A patient collapsed in the waiting room….

….. and our reactions are completely slow!!!

This was what happened:

Someone rang insistently at the bell and I had to shout for someone to go attend to the hatch. The pre-reg went and then came straight in and was on the phone. While I was checking a prescription, a tech came to me and asked, “who fainted outside?”

I went what??? and walked out and saw a pregnant lady slumped on the floor. Then I went back in and said, “someone has fainted outside.” and the prereg tells me she’s on the phone to emergency services.

Our nominated first aiders had really slow reactions. They only decided to walk out when I was actually near to the patient! Then they did their first-aidy things while I went to see why the pre-reg was on the phone for so long. The operator on the phone wanted to know whether the patient was conscious, how old she was, blah blah blah.

Turns out, she was told by the first aider to call 999, when the number to call should have been 2222. Another tech just went to dial 2222, and told them there was patient fainted at the waiting room and they just straight away sent a crash team.

So, I went back to work, but my two “hardworking” first aiders still lingered outside doing god-knows-what. Why would you still need first aiders when the crash team has arrived? Why crowd over the patient? At this point I was quite annoyed because I was the only one actually doing accuracy checking!!

Patient was fitting and retching. Doc wanted to know why patient came into hospital. So we rang the ward and they said, “oh.. don’t worry. She does this all the time. We’ll come and get her.”

Patient miraculously revived. No more fits…

Apparently, she does this all the time. Every time the ward tries to discharge her, she fakes it. What we were wondering is why she had an outpatient script if she was still an inpatient at the hospital… weird…

What I want to know is…. WHY FAKE IT IN THE PHARMACY WAITING ROOM WHEN WE ARE ALL BUSY!!! GO PRETEND SOMEWHERE ELSE AND DON’T STEAL MY TECHNICIANS!!

But between the bell ringing and the first aiders actually going to help… i think it took about 5 mins… hahahahahha.. which is slow considering the first aider is just 2 secs away.

Pride comes before a fall

I forgot that writing about it would make me feel better rather than mopping around waiting for something to drop onto my lap.

I didn’t get the Band 6 job. Just when you thought that you had it in the bag, something happens to snatch it away. It doesn’t matter how many times they IMPLY that they want you to stay. It doesn’t matter that you perform brilliantly in the time that you are working there.

All it boils down to is how good you can crap during an interview.

Well, if i were an unknown and competing with anther unknown, I would accept that I did not give a good interview because let’s face it, I never give good interviews. I’m not a good speaker, I’m not one to blow my own trumpet, I’m not one to talk about what I learnt. But that’s exactly who they are looking for. Someone who can talk the talk (but would she walk the walk?). Someone who can make up millions of different stories and make it sound impressive. I can’t do that. I get things done.. as well as I can, but what I can’t do is tell the whole world about it.

You guys knew how I am like in interviews.. You interviewed me for the pre-reg post. I told you that I am no good at interviews. But do you take my performance into consideration? No. Absolutely not. Because “employment laws require you to treat every applicant fairly.” How am I treated fairly then?

Tell me then… How do I put this behind me and go to work as if nothing has happened? How do I still go when I feel like it’s not worth my time. I have always enjoyed going in to work but now.. it’s just dragging. Smile they say… well.. you try it when you feel like it’s not worth it.

Guess it is time to move on and find another place. Somewhere that will appreciate my skills. Lesson to everyone: Talk is not cheap. Performance doesn’t matter that much. And never believe people when they say they will retain you.

Saying the wrong things.

I was in the ward, talking to the patient asking if he takes regular medicines at home. Then I went back to the pharmacist.

Me: Alexxxxxxxx, this patient takes normal meds.

Alex looks at me and starts smirking.

Alex: What is normal meds… what’s abnormal meds…

Me: er.. I mean regular..

*****************************

In the dispensary, talking to Ann..

Ann: Well, what’s the worst that can happen then?

Me: Nothing. Just have to try again and again. Never mind, I always fall on my feet… er.. i meant land on my feet….

 

I just crack myself up sometimes…

Calling out

I was trying to call the medicines information dept of a pharmaceutical company. So I dialed the number and waited while it rang.

Person who picked up: Hello, Switchboard.

Me: Hi, could you put me through to the medicines information department?

PWPU: er… you are drug information….

I realised I had forgotten to press 9 to dial an outside line… hehe… embarassing…

More fun..

Senior pharmacist was sending an email to the whole department and trying to send it to one of the Spanish pharmacist.

SP: I don’t know why Cristina’s name doesn’t come up.

One of the Spanish pharmacist: oh… you spelt Cristina’s name wrong. There’s no H.

SP: No H? Then it’s not proper Cristina then.

Pause.

SP: How do you spell Christ then? Without a H?

Ward fun

While in the ward, we approached an old lady and had the following conversation:

Us: Good afternoon. We’re from the pharmacy department and we’re here to check your medicines.

Old lady: huh? Sandwich department???

______________________________________________________

Drug chart showed that doctor has prescribed a drug for OD (meaning once a day) but he circled 4 different times.

Pharmacist: Dr. Why did you do this?

Dr: I don’t know….

Me: –_-|||

______________________________________________________

Me talking to a old patient.

Me: Hi Mr X. Good afternoon. I’m from pharmacy and wondering if I could ask you a few questions.

Pt: Sorry!! You need to speak up!! I came here in a rush last night and forgot to bring my hearing aid and my teeth! (laughs)

So, not knowing how to react I nervously laugh with him as well.

Pt: Don’t laugh!! I can’t eat without my teeth.

Me (slightly louder): I’m sorry…… (oops)

______________________________________________________

And then you get sad cases such as this:

Old lady: Do i walk this way then?

Me: No Mrs Y. You need to sit by your bed.

Old lady: It’s getting dark soon and I want to be home before it gets dark.

Me: If you wait by your bed, a nurse will come and let you know when you will go home.

Old lady: My parents must be really worried about me. They probably don’t know where I am.

Me (after a pause): I’m sure they know where you are and won’t worry too much.

And then you think back and wonder whether you should’ve said what you said. And feel sad for the little old lady with dementia.

Clocks go back

I really am not good at updating. Think it was ages ago that I last posted an update.

Clocks have gone back yesterday. So now we are at GMT instead of BST. That means it’s 8 hours behind home. It’s getting darker earlier as well. I think it was already dark at 430 and by the time i finish work and walked home at 530, it seemed like it was the middle of the night.

I’m doing my medicines information rotation now and went for a regional study day at Sutton Coldfield about medicines information as well. It was quite boring as I already knew most of the things from uni and from my 2 weeks in MI. There was this pharmacist there talking about critical appraisal and she said that she didn’t care how a drug worked, as long as it worked! I thought that was totally inappropriate and that as a pharmacist, we should care even more about the mechanism of the drug. Or else, it’s just a waste of my 4 years in uni!

However, i think MI is fun. Doing lots of research and answering queries. Have to answer the phone as well which is quite hard for me to do as the caller sometimes babbles on and I have to jot down what he/she is saying. I don’t write fast enough!

I really can’t think of anything interesting to write. Think my life’s a bit of a bore right now. To work for most of the day, come back and stone, walk around during weekends, be cheeky to colleagues….

Thinking of colleagues, there’s 3 new Spanish pharmacists working at my hospital and they are very friendly and fun people. A bit hard to understand them sometimes but so far there’s not a big communication gap. Hope they get the house near my place so I’ve got people to visit.

I’m at the point where I’m thinking of staying on in the same hospital and continue with a diploma. I shall tell my tutor that this week. Hopefully I won’t forget.

Oh ya, went to the Herefordshire Food Festival last weekend. It costed 5 pounds just to get in. It wasn’t anything interesting – most of which you could see when they have their market days. There was a lot of cider, liqueur, sausages, fresh vegetables, meat. It’s a lot different to how food festivals are like back home where you really get lots of different types of food. Well, one thing good about the food festival was that you get to try lots of things – mostly cider and liqueur. Bought some sausages which tasted really good.

I’ve got some photos from the festival but I’m being lazy and the camera is far away from me. So I will post some photos when I feel like it on Facebook.

ooOoo…. I remember something. Went to the pub for lunch with my friend and there was this old guy who kept trying to chat me up and also trying to catch my friend’s eye. Weird!!!! I have a feeling I attract weird people… :(

From this post, you can infer that I am a lazy and boring person. Which is quite true.. haha

Work and rainbows

As usual, I begin by saying that I have lapsed in updating my blog and probably lost all my readers by now (if i even had some in the first place). So what has been happening in my life since the last time I had updated?

I’ve dispensed lots of medicine, seen lots of drug charts, dealt with lots of CDs and made quite a few phone calls. I’ve taken a week’s leave to visit London and Manchester. And just got back from Bristol today.

I’ve met different patients in the wards – some funny, some just sad. An old lady saying that her parents would be terribly worried as they don’t know where she is. Another who doesn’t know where she is. One who says thank you for making sure that she is well taken care of. One who roamed around the ward humming and not uttering a single word.

Dispensary – the place where everything happens. The stress, the laughter, the gossips. Worst of all, the phones that never seem to stop ringing. And the loud bell that people ring to catch our attention, and makes us all jump.

I’m enjoying my work. Everyday is not the same. I get to learn something new everyday. How to fill in a form. When to fill in a form. How to take in card payments. How to deal with discrepancies.

My colleagues are mostly very friendly and helpful people. But there are always exceptions to the rule. There’s one who people say are very friendly, but I have yet to see a side of her which is. Another that just shows a sour face most of the time and whom we did not know her name until quite recently. Another who i get annoyed with as she asks questions that she should know and do not seem to act responsibly. I have ranted these problems with friends and have thus find no reason to post them here again.

Anyway, here’s a rainbow for you. I took it while on the train to Bristol. The sight was amazing. It was all misty and hazy while you look out in the country side. And in the corner, a rainbow appears. It made me wish that I was outside there where nature was painting and not stuck in a noisy train.