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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Busy time at National University HospitalLet me clarify with what Amreet said on the tagboard. Work at NUH is indeed busy, at certain times and is dependent on what your role is. =P Today I was at the enquiry counter, and even if there wasn't any prescriptions, I had to file the dispensed prescriptions and bill any discharge bills. So I guess it was pretty busy for me. That Amreet got almost a day off, though he had to stand at long periods of time beside the pharmacist. *Jealous look at Amreet*
Hehe, no one has updated regarding their work places since last year, all right, allow me to kick start for this year then! Amreet and I were posted to the Retail Pharmacy at the Main Building of NUH for the first week. When we went to meet Mdm. Nancy Yong on our third day at work, we found out that we were in the wrong pharmacy! We ended up in one of the busiest pharmacy in NUH, nicknamed "R1" amongst the staff in NUH.
Work at R1 was very busy. We never got a chance to even stand still, literally! We were always rushing around with a prescription, trying to get the drugs required without the buzzer (A buzzer tagged to the queue system would sound when a queue number is beyond the set time limit.) sounding on us. (A near impossible deed when it is during the peak hour.) No wonder they hardly had any chairs there; there isn't a need for one because no one have that luxury of time to sit down.
Mdm. Nancy posted us to the Retail Pharmacy at Kent Ridge Wing (Nicknamed "R2") till 2nd of Feburary, when we would be posted to a satellite pharmacy. Work at R2 is more relaxed as compared to R1. Even during the peak hours, the buzzer does not sound as much as R1! But yes, in terms of packing wise, its less busier, till the point I see Amreet snacking on something from the pantry once in a while. (That greedy pig! =P)
Both of us also get to experience more odd patients as we see more neuroscience patients there, meaning more patients on psychotic drugs. On our first day at R2, we were introduced to this lady whom we were told that if we ever see her, we pack her medicines first, and let it be dispensed first, otherwise she would make a big rukus of it. I guess for her, the rule Last In First Out (LIFO) applies. ;)
Just a a couple of weeks ago, we had this lady who was collecting this anti-psychotic drug which had an expiry date near the end of A.D 2006. As that is the only stock of the drug in NUH and it is the stock that we borrowed from somewhere as we ran out, we could not give her any that is of a longer expiry date, until the supplier sends us new stock.
Strangely, she blasted at the pharmacist repeating lines like
"You dare to sell me borrowed goods?!" ) (Note: I bold her words to emphasized that she was screaming at us all the time.)
"Don't you have any conscious?!",
"NUH pharmacy so big and you don't have more of this medicine?! Laughable!", "You are all educated people, and you dare to give me borrowed goods?!"I italicized her favourite phrases. ;) There were some other phrases, but I think it is enough to show how unreasonable she was. Basically, she was angry at us for trying to give her drugs that were expiring in the same year as the course of her medication, even though it was within her prescription's medication duration and for apparently giving her "borrowed goods". Even in our course of learning, we have learnt that it is common practice for pharmacies to borrow drugs from each other in times when we run out of stock, so it is nothing wrong, nor uncommon to have "borrowed goods" in pharmacy practice.
I really have to admire the courtesy and service attitude of the pharmacist and the pharmacy technician (PT) who was in charge of stocking the drug for facing her screamings calmly and trying to explain to her as well as trying to arrange for an alternative form of the drug for her, in syrup form with a much later expiry date. If I were out there, I would be very much tempted to have a screaming brawl with her.
The episode did not end on that day, as she had to come back the next day to collect the syrup the PT tried very hard to get for her. Another screaming brawl ensured, in which she apparently was not satisfied with the answer that we do not have any more stock of the drug and she found another reason for screaming at the PT. She accused the PT for not calling her to tell her that the PT had gotten the syrup for her, even though it was agreed that she could come anytime the next day to collect it. (The rest of us can pretty much hear the agreement from the previous day that she would come without calling, since she was screaming most of the time.)
The issue was resolved one hour after the standard closing time of the pharmacy on her second visit. All this for a drug that she is collecting for her brother.*Sighs* Well, that is one of the most exciting episodes Amreet and I encountered.
Everyday lunch was accompanied with the
beautiful Christina (Well she is the only lady who lunches with us anyway, besides Esther just the day before.), with snack attacks on the R2 pantry and the 7-Eleven in the Main Building. Amreet is being attached to a pharmacist who knew Miss Yap, and hopefully, both of us would be doing some dispensing next week. Phew, that is a long post. Wish all the rest a blessed new year ahead!
Terence Seah.
Last blogged at 10:02 PM
