Pharmacy

Pharmacy

• "My"Responsibilities: Fill out orders and send them to the respective floor
• New Knowledge: I learned about the shelf life of some medications
• Best Thing: The best thing was having a conversation with a woman about her time working in a mental institution
• Worst Thing: The person I was following left, and I was stranded 
• Overall: Not good, because I am not interested in pharmacy.

• Finding the pharmacy was easy to find, and when I got there, I just rang the doorbell and was let into the unit. The room was very quiet and everyone seemed to keep to themselves. Eventually, I was assigned to a pharmacy technician, who gave me a short tour of the area. I was actually surprised by how small the pharmacy was, and it was a little underwhelming. 
• The diagnostic procedures consisted of the pharmacy technicians checking the patient's previous medication to ensure that they weren't getting multiple doses of the same medication, and to ensure that the patients were getting their medication on a regular schedule. 
• No diseases or disorders observed.
• Diuretic: Any substance that promotes the production of urine. 
• Beta Blockers: a class of drugs that are particularly used for the management of cardiac arrhythmias, protecting the heart from a second heart attack after a first heart attack, and hypertension

1. I did not like the pharmacy because it was far too repetitive for me, and the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians do not get to work directly with the patients. While I was there, there was a lot going on, but it was basically just the filling out of orders from nurses. In addition to that, there wasn't a huge variety in the setting. The pharmacy techs stay in the same room day in and day out, and only leave if they need to deliver medication by hand (which isn't particularly common, because most medication can be sent through the tubes). 
2. Everyone in the pharmacy was nice, but they weren't very talkative. Most of them seemed to just keep to themselves and get their work done. The environment made me uncomfortable because it was so quiet, and very unlike the other areas in the hospital where I had gone. However, one or two of the pharmacy technicians were great; I talked to them about their experience in some other areas of healthcare, and they were very lively and helpful.  
3. I learned about how some of the medications are stored and their shelf life. I also learned about how the computer system works in the pharmacy and how all of the paperwork is processed and authorized. An interesting thing about pharmacy that I didn't know was that they have a station where the remains from surgery are taken and analyzed and cleaned out. One cool thing that I got to do was send off some of the medication in the tube system. 
4. Pharmacy was not for me. I knew that I wouldn't be interested in it, but I did expect to see more. I think that it was a mixture of the very quiet atmosphere and the fact that there was no direct patient interaction. I could never see myself going into pharmacy, but I'm glad that I was able to figure that out now.