To protect myself from any harm, blacklash or anything, I wouldn't be mentioning the name of the hospital. Honestly, im not going to throw any shady things but i just dont want to upset anyone. Snitches (snakes) could be anyone.
If you know where i did my practical, you know. Nothing special tho.
1st week (inpatient)
Our first week there was very short. It was only for 3 days. Generally, it was busy but everyone was helpful. It was my first department so i didn't have any comparison. I could see myself working there. Juicy story? Maybe one. My friend and I barely remember where each meds are located because it was our second day there. Tablets/capsules are the hardest because there we tons of them. We didn't really understand how they arranged it. It took awhile for us to fill in the trolley. No one was helping. They were busy minding their own business and only answered if we asked them. This one ppf was being sarcastic. She said in a loud voice where everyone there could hear, 'Eh tak habis lagi? Lamanya.'
In my defence, it was our second day there and in the hospital. It was MY first time assisting this job. Then, one PF came and she took out all the bins from the trolley to recheck the ones we had filled and as 'a sign', everyone else should help. Yupe, it took about 10 minutes when everyone else actually helped.
2nd week (outpatient)
This department, the most busiest department. Everyday all we did was assist fillings, did some extemporaneous (fill in liquids in bottle). Pretty much summarise it.
I guess you see how short staffs they are. Without students, they might need to work twice harder. The amount of prescriptions are ridiculous.
And.... you see how hard as 'prp' you need to work. You need to do almost everything there. Counselling patients, extemp, DD, confirm (calling doctors about prescriptions), VAS, filling. Im not sure about other hospital but here, they will wait until prp do it. They wouldn't do it themselves even they actually could. Well, a PF actually did it herself because shes the kind ones. I'm not saying others are not kind, shes kinder and friendlier. of course there was a person who took advantage of our presence. She should be doing 'it' but she knew other people could do it too so she lets them.
Im not sure this happened 2nd week or 4th week but there was a time where a DD prescription needed to be supplied. I told the officer that this is DD so i can't supply it (students not allowed even you know how to do it). This officer asked me to search for prp. I said, theres no prp. I asked another officer and he/she (dont remember who) also said the same. It was soooo annoying, i kinda hempas the basket on the table. Not really loud but loud enough for an officer to look around. Suddenly this prp appreared and did it.
One prp actually told us not to work too hard because we were not paid for it. Like, we assist but its not our job to do everything. Not all prp were friendly tho. Most of them were but some were just maybe not in the mood.
I guess I learned about the working environment here. Did some mistakes but as long as you learned from it, it would be fine. Try not to make simple mistakes or the same mistakes more than twice.
3rd week (store n DIS)
Here, not much story. DIS we only go through files to fill in our log books. I guess, i read certain reports about things I didn't know ACTUALLY happened. I can't tell you whats in it. It's confidential, like I said, I don't want any trouble. We also discussed about some drug related problems that you think it sounds ridiculous in lecture but actually happened. DIS answers questions from any staff that need infos such as, can we prescribed propranolol to pregnant women or can this drug be taken with another drug.
STORE. well,we got breakfast breaks. We couldn't observe much because people were so busy. In the end, i guess they were friendly because they invited us to eat with them.
4th week (inpatient)
Back at the same department. Still doing the same job but with different friends. There was one day that I did the same mistake but with different drugs that really pulls me down. I was not scolded but I felt like I could do so much better. At first, I gave the ointment instead of cream. The cream was outside while the ointment was in KPK storage. Then I gave the wrong medication, it was a combination of estriol but I gave a different combination.
It was kinda hard when it comes to naming the label and the name on the prescription. Sometimes it was written on the label the combination while on the prescription the name of the brand. So, you need to look twice.
This was based on my friends' experience, you need to pack the drugs according to how you were taught or how you observed they did it. So, my friend saw officer A packed and labelled the drugs her way, my friend followed her way. Just keep in mind, several officers did the same way too. My friend was called (when you did a mistake, they will call your name to tell you your mistakes.) she was told that how she did was wrong. Besides that, my other friend asked a ppf on how to labelled this drug, the ppf told her how she would do it. Then while my friend was doing it, the hod (head of the department) saw, she said, thats not hows its done. SO my friend told the hod that the ppf showed her (the ppf was also nearby), the hod like, uhh, hurmm, thats not right, here is the right way.
YOU SEE, if students made mistakes, you will be corrected but if others did it... even they didn't really like to address it to their colleagues. Im not sure if this applies to other places too. Im just saying about our experiences.
5th week (CDR and TPN)
It was fun in both departments. Both of them was sterile departments. Due to time constraints, we didn't have the most experience in it. I wished it was a week because we could do more things. It was interesting for sure. 7-steps washing hands is very important to enter the sterile rooms. Daily cleaning, all the alcohol swabs. Well, to save costs in TPN, they used gauze as clothed to swab the minor things.
The process in CDR is simpler in TPN but CDR is a more dangerous substance than TPN.
The departments also works differently. I'll spare the details later. lol
6th (TDM)
All we did was calculation.
I guess i can share this one story. There was a baby, she had a genetic disorder called cystic fibrosis. Her lungs had mucus and overall it causes infections. She got TPN since she was born, she was having back-to-back antibiotic (shes a patient in TDM too) such as vancomycin, aminoglycosides it depends on the doctor. The doctor even apply for original meds for her. Most of the antibiotics were not effective.
The first day in TPN, i overheard about PF saying marriage with cousins are not encourage in Islam. We can avoid this genetic disorder. The parents of the baby are cousins and this baby is their third child if im not mistaken.
She did survived for about 3-4 months. She was sooo strong! May she rest in peace in Heaven..
You see, when i was in CDR and outpt, I saw young patients took such hardcore medications. Be grateful that you don't have to take any like them. Imagine being diagnosed with cancer at 9 or 19. Or, need to take antiepileptic (anti seizure) at the age where health shouldn't be your main concern.
Patient care is hard because it is supposed to be hard. You are dealing with actual human beings and all we need to do is make sure they get the right thing. Yes, doctor prescribes the medications but you still need to ensure the medications are right and what they supposed to take. There was a mistake where the prescriber wants to prescribe MMT (mixture magnesium trisilicate) instead it was magnesium sulphate mixture which is an indication for hypomagnesemia not for gastritis, the patient had gastritis.
From someone who hates clinical in general and had given up on hospital the second she heard it, this experience really changed my perspective. I have more respect for our fellow pharmacists working there. I think, working in hospital is not as bad as i thought it would be. As stressful it might be someday for me, i think i can go through it, at least for the first few years in the real world.
I think, thats all from me. Thanks for reading up till the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment