I started my rotations this past Monday and will be working 40+ hours in a different pharmacy every week. Even though it's not just observation (they're making me work: type, fill, make dossettes, etc), I'm loving every minute of it! The pharmacist and staff are teaching me so much about the UK healthcare system and it's so different from ours. The way they run the pharmacy is so much simpler than how we do it in the States. You get a script, type it, find the generic/brand on the shelf, fill it, and the pharmacist does the check at the very end. They don't scan the rx into the computer, there's no barcode scans, blah blah-- you just pick whatever drug from the shelf, the manufacturer/quantity in the package doesn't matter! You can literally get an rx done in 2 minutes!!
The area I worked in this week has a lot of drug users and they all come in for their methadone everyday! At first-- I was confused since community pharmacies don't dispense it in the States, but the staff just poured out some green Methadone liquid for them (according to their rx) and they just drink it in front of the staff! There is also a big needle exchange program, so a lot of people will come in to exchange needles (which means they're still doing heroin) AND get their methadone rx at the same time (which is SUPPOSED help ppl who quit heroin). I'm working at an independent pharmacy next week and even have a hospital rotation, yay!!!
Right now, Paige and I are chilling in my room- we're about to head out to catch our flight to Budapest, Hungary! So excited to see Eastern Europe; I brought my pepto bismol & toilet paper just in case, haha. We are definitely planning to go swimming in the red toxic sludge, no worries!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
♥ from Bath
making dossettes!
Methadone-- the good stuff
Stonehenge (yes, my bangs were going crazy)
omgosh. i wanna make those packages! :) but think about all those med errors if we didn't scan stuff... sometimes i try to change the ndc in kroger's computer and it wouldn't let me... for a good reason. some of our pts at kroger only use one brand of glipizide and its best to just keep that same pt on that particular generic (only ordered for this one guy) and i was trying to fill it for another common generic we use for all the other pts. i would like to bypass all the scanning/barcodes but i think its a major safeguard esp if you have new RPhs floating for your store or new CPhT who don't know the drugs very well...
ReplyDeleteMISS YOU & keep up the good work! :)
Lynn
WAHHH!! okay so I've been sooo super busy with school/work/org stuff so I've totally been reading your blog, but haven't had time to comment - so now that I'm procrastinating for the p.econ test, I have time to comment!! teehehe
ReplyDeletewowwwwwww so I don't get to fill or touch any non-compounded drugs at my pharmacy so I don't know how long it takes to fill a script (sad)... but 2 minutes sounds super speedy - but you were always super fast at counting by fives anyway - WOOHOOO!!!
and WHATTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?! THAT'S CRAZY!!! guess it pays to be a drug addict in europe hehe - since you don't need a Rx to get it, you should TRY IT AND SEE HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL!! that way when you come back to the US, you can counsel with EXPERIENCE. experience = credibility. :D
ACK! AND can't believe you got to see stonehenge IRL!!!!
also - I used "so" fifty thousand times in the above post. I re-read it after I posted it. I am extremely sorry for my lack of proof-reading skills.
ReplyDelete