Written
10/15/09
After 3 days I am starting to settle in to this rotation. All pharmacy rotations are basically the same, but there is still an adjustment period. For me the biggest problem is always getting to know the staff. At this site there are like 15 people in the pharmacy, so its going to take a while for me to even get their names down. Yesterday I was stuck on the front counter doing straight retail stuff. Since this site contains both an inpatient and a retail pharmacy they not only fill orders, but do refills and a lot of counseling. There is mandatory counseling on every refil which is totally unnecessary and a waste of manpower. What is even more unnecessary is that the federal regulations dont permit me to be in the room with a patient alone. That means that in order for me to counsel a pharmacist has to be in there with me. In order to avoid this the guys who I was working with yesterday kept me out of the counseling room and just put me on the bench checking scripts. I dont understand how they cant leave me alone to counsel (perfectly legal as long as there is a pharmacist present in the pharmacy), but I can check prescriptions without any doublecheck by a pharmacist (not fully legal). This was kind of discouraging because I do retail pharmacy stuff every day and just doing checking aspirin scripts all day doesnt teach me anything. I brought that up today and instead I was able to work on a project. I did a quick economic analysis of using Lovenox vs Arixtra. I didnt really comprehend how much money would be saved on the BID treatment doses. Today they had a navajo food sale in the hospital to raise money to buy tshirts. I was able to get some delicious beef stew and Navajo frybread instead of my typical peanut butter sandwich. Frybread is just what it sounds like, fried bread dough that is light and tasty. Apparently it is better when it is fresh, which I can apparently get at the Chinle flea market that happens every week. Im going to swing in there on friday to get some of the fresh stuff. Ill try to look at some nice Navajo goods too.
Im starting to settle into the apartment too. It is strange waking up before the dawn in order to go to work, this is not a representation of how early I wake up, but rather a representation of how late the sun rises (around 7:30AM). I really enjoy the pre dawn hour when it is light enough to see, but still not sunny. I typically dont wake up for this time, but am generally already awake before until the sun rises. I was surprised by how much free time I have in the morning without having to check my email or facebook or fighting for the bathroom or anything like that. I still cant get used to coming home and having absolutely nothing to do. I come back and watch a few episodes of Metalocalypse and read until I go to bed. This will pass in time, worst case scenario I get to spend a month reading and relaxing. Its hard to believe that I only have 19 more days of actually going to rotation left, but ill try to make the best of it.
-O
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Look for Pharmacies (usually Independent) doing cost analysis of meds, disease state management, cost containment etc. Anyone can; count, lick and stick. As unimportant as some pharmacist think counseling their patients on meds and OTC is no big deal and a waste of time, should be doing something different. Number one; you help your patients feel better and get healthier, and also increase the business $$$ to your pharmacy. Nothing wrong with that. With the new Medicare laws right around the corner, you want to make sure your patients are attracted to your business for many reasons. Remember the TV show that had the quote; “You Want To Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name??? Be that person!!!
ReplyDelete