Clinical Report/Record/Journal - Pharmacy 01/09/2015

Clinical Report

1. In the pharmacy, my duties included reading off a list of medication, finding the specific medicine and pulling out the correct number of pills to put in a baggy. After doing so, I had to put labels on each bag, and set them on the counter for inspection by the pharmacist.
2. This week I learned how to look at a paper and figure out what medication (including the mg) is needed, and where to locate that medicine. 
3. The best thing that happened in pharmacy was being able to actually perform hands-on duties. 
4. The worst thing that happened was probably the fact that it was really difficult for me to understand the pharmacy technician. She had a very strong accent and talked very quietly. 

This week was: GOOD

I really enjoyed pharmacy, and I believe it was the first time I was actually able to learn a lot. I did the most hands-on duties in this rotation than I have in any other. 

Experience Record

Technology Observed:
In the pharmacy I was able to observe some of the technology used. I was able to make labels myself using the computer, and print them out of the label printer. Also, when an IV bag is taken out of the package, it is only good for a certain amount of weeks, so I had to make my own sticker with an expiration date on it. Lastly, I observed the technician put pills into a machine, and the machine packaged the pills.

Diagnostic/ Therapeutic Procedures:
I believe the pharmacy in itself is the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. When somebody is diagnosed with a certain illness, nurses or doctors go to the pharmacy in order to give that person some medication(s) that will help them. 

Diseases/Disorders Observed:
In the pharmacy there were not any diseases or disorders that I observed. However, some of the medication in the pharmacy are used to treat illnesses that may deprive from diseases or disorders.

Experience Journal

   Walking into the pharmacy was messy but organized. It was not as loud as other places I have been to. For example the PACU, which is just a ton of random beeping noises that can probably drive a person crazy. There were probably 3-5 technicians working in the pharmacy, and each one was pulling medicine off of the shelves and making neat piles of pills, only stopping to put a label on a bag or to input information into the computer. There were computers along the wall, and some on the counters with label printers as their neighbors, and I was able to utilize both. 

   After completing the duties given to me, much like the duties explained above, the pharmacy technicians had the pharmacist come in. They were a team. The pharmacy techs would grab all of the necessary medications and baggage them, and then the pharmacist would come in, and he/she would communicate with them if they forgot something or had everything correct. The pharmacist and the tech. both performed the safety procedure of double checking every medication that was pulled out. They could not stress how important it was to make sure you had the right medication. After the checking process was complete, the pharmacist left. 

   I gained quite a bit of knowledge about what workers in the pharmacy do. I was taught how to read a paper that determined what medication to pull out, and how many pills were needed of each medication. I was also able to learn how to input certain information into the computer to make labels specific to the medication that was pulled. I utilized much of the equipment they had, and was able to learn a lot.

   The pharmacy was my best experience yet. The technicians were kind, and Hahn (the tech I shadowed) had a lot of important information to share with me. I never really thought working in the pharmacy would be to interesting, but I really enjoyed my time there. I could definitely use what I learned there in the future if I ever wanted to go into pharmacy.