Crazy Day at Work

Okay, last Sunday was a freakin' crazy day at work. I don't even know where all the people came from. Maybe ER decides to be nice and release EVERYONE at the same time?

Yeah, there's a line of 500 people THE WHOLE ENTIRE DAY!

You know what I hate the most at work. It's when this one clerk keeps yelling "CONSULT!!!" every 5 sec. I know, there's a freakin' consultation, but there's only one technician working right now, and 500 prescriptions to fill.

And then, there's the FUCKING PHONE RINGING! I don't know why call center is open every day BUT Sunday in our district. It's open on Sunday in other districts, 'cause I get phone calls from them before.

How would you feel if you're busily filling the 500prescriptions sitting on the counter, and some jackass call to ask "How much is each one of my 10 medications?" I put her on hold....and kinda forgot about the call. (meanwhile, I get calls from doctor, fix problems for clerks, do consults, etc.)A nurse called while I was filling. Me, trying to multi-task, answered the call and drag the phone to the filling counter. I ended up pulling the cord and accidentally hang up on the nurse :(

So yeah, to all those people who would like to work at my pharmacy because omg, the pay is SO GOOD! I am not overreacting when I say that THEY USE YOU LIKE A SLAVE. When there's 500 prescriptions, they need all the 3 pharmacists to final check. So that leaves the intern to do EVERYTHING ELSE. Clerk is having a problem customer? They call you.

Thank God, no patient is bitching at me about how long they have to wait. 'cause I came this close to yelling at someone after 6hrs of straight working w/ no lunch and low blood sugar (talk about violating union terms).

Back in business :-)

Wow, I've been gone for a long time.

Anyway, a lot of stories have piled up during my absence, but I've already bitched at my friends about it so if I were to repeat them, there wouldn't be any punch to it.

So, here's a lame posts 'bout funny names.

Last name: Hooker
- I was going to yell out his name, but I only got the first name out.

Last name: Titsworth
- Same as above hahahahahaha.

I was playing Rohan (an MMORPG similar to WoW) the other day when I saw some guy w/ the name "Cialis" running by.

Be nice to your pharmacist

Be nice to your pharmacist.

So here's another one of my pet peeves during consultations along with the ppl talking on cell phones. (At least they know to hang up since I would just stand there and stare at them until they do). I hate those teenage girls who give me attitude during consultation. Oh my God, I'm going to be late for the mall trip with my bff. Maybe I won't just tell you that if you take any alcohol with the metronidazole you're taking, you'll be throwing up all day long. Don't tell me you'll read the fuckin' med guide yourself. If you can't spare 2 minutes to listen to me, I doubt you're gonna spare 10mintues reading all the fine prints.

What's even more annoying is when these stupid bitches give me attitude when I'm giving consult for their parents' drugs TO THEIR PARENTS. Excuse me. Am I even talking to you? No, I'm talking to your parents who actually want to know how to take their meds.

Kids nowadays should get sent to military school for a semester.

Another busy day at work

So today was sooooooooo busy at work. I almost had a breakdown from trying to answer phone calls, deal with discharge consults, deal with refills issues. I promised someone that I would call them back about their Atenolol prescription, but I lost his number o_O ((I'm so sorry Mr. Patient. I was totally trying to call you back!!!))

We need way more staff (esp. clerks, and techs, and pharmacists. Hell, just hire more people in all departments).

Also I had a bitch patient gave me attitude during consultations. Man, teenagers nowadays.

Lessons learned:
- Refill remainings: PRN = keep filling until 1 year after original date of prescription.
I had no idea you can have that. When the Target pharmacist told me refill remainings = PRN, I was like "huh? wtf is that?"
Pharmacist: do you know what PRN means?
Me: uh...as needed...
Pharmacist: ok...it means you fill until 1 year after original date of prescription
Me: ooooohhhhhh...hahahaha, sorry, I'm an intern...
Pharmacist: *suddenly becomes nicer once he realizes I'm an intern* hahaha, it's okay.

- Nor-QD + Ibuprofen +/- Vicodin/Percocet picked up by a guy = this guy's wife just had a baby. Ask him 'bout the baby and he would tell you how much the baby weighs and may possibly show you pictures from his cell phone.

- Need to practice my Spanish. It sucks when I have to wait for a tech to do Spanish translation 'cause I don't know how to say "Are you sure your daughter is not allergic to Amoxil 'cause it says here she got rashes."

Anyway, I start to be able to answer patient's questions now without having to run back and ask the pharmacist, which is kinda cool. Provided that most of the time the questions are about Vicodin and I dispense/consult them at least 50x a day.

Another day at work

zomg, today got really busy at work. The filling line was fine, but the take in and pick up lines were way out the door. Good thing we have a lot of clerks working today.

Had to do a consultation in Spanish for Keflex. I was like uh...Tome una capsula (is that Spanish for capsule?) cuatro veces al dia. Necesita terminar todos. [Take a capsule 4 times a day. You need to finish everything.] Tiene una alergia a una medicacion (I guess I should have used medicina)? [Do you have any allergy to a medication?]

Wow, I feel semi-proud of myself.

Good day at work-ish

So yeah, today was really busy when I first got to work. This lasts until about 3PM. After I went to lunch at 3, it was all nice and slow. I even had time to RTS!!!

Good stuff:
- No one yelled at me either V^_^
- Got to see my favorite pharmacist who I haven't seen in months! (She actually helped me feel better 'bout my failing out of pharm school blues)
- Ppl were nice overall.

I also learned that Metformin can be used off-label for polycystic ovary syndrome too. That is so weird. I didn't know you can use it for something other than Diabetes.

Also learned that Diabetic kids can't simply take any cold medication due to the sugar and the pseudoephedrine which converts glycogen to glucose (and raise their blood sugar). Fun stuff.

Yesterday I went to APE in San Francisco. It was nice to see the Nemu-nemu ppl again and met this guy who's on Youtube (that was kinda cool). Helped the Nemu-nemu ppl sell their stuff 'cause my friend and I had nothing better to do. Hopefully, I see these ppl again at Fanime. APE is cool, it's just not really my genre. I don't really read comics. Like the manga style more. But since we walked 6 blocks in the rain from the BART station, I figured we might as well stay there for a little while.

Halloween was on Friday. I dressed up as Konata from Lucky Star. However, 99.9% of the ppl I met thought I was Sailor Mars :( grrrrrr. I was planning on going to Anime Club Halloween Party but since I didn't study at all on Friday and Saturday, I'm gonna need to catch up tonight.

Smoking Cessation

Today, I did consultations on asthma medications for 2 patients. The thing is, they stink really bad of cigarettes. I was soooo tempted to just add after the consultation "by the way, you need to quit smoking." Dude, you're on all these asthma medications, and you're still smoking? And smoking so much that I can smell you from far away. Dude, you need to quit.

One patient tries to make a scene about some med. We had to call security on him.