Pharmacist can be very fierce, too. Haha..

Sunday nite. Was busy dispensing when I received TDM blood samples for Gentamicin. Called up the Doctor in-charged to confirm some details.

Pharmacist (P): Good evening Dr. This is from pharmacy. I just received a Gentamicin TDM sample of patient XXX from you. May I know the date when Gentamicin was started, the dose, and the dosing interval? They are not written in the form.

Doctor (D): Har? I dun remember lar.. Hehe.. Yesterday got one pharmacist asked me to repeat TDM so I just repeat lor...

P: Ah? Which pharmacist was that?

D: Erm.. I dun remember lar.. Hmm.. Wait, I think the patient started Gentamicin 4 days ago.

P: 4 days ago?? Gentamicin treatment period is usually for 5 days only, right? That means the patient would be off Genta tomorrow. Why would u wanna repeat TDM? Moreover, now that our TDM machine has broken down, we have to send the samples to JB. By the time we receive the result, patient might be off Genta already...

D: I dunno lar.. Pharmacist asked me to repeat so I just repeat lor..

P: Hmm.. Or is there any reason that u might wanna prolong the treatment period? How's the patient's condition?

D: Actually the patient was already discharged this morning lah...

P: !!!!! Har??!

D: Yeah.. Cause he was initially diagnosed with Endocarditis, but upon reviewing his ECHO, we thought it was unlikely Endocarditis. Most probably just viral fever so we off the Genta and discharged him this morning..

P: Then why did u send his blood samples for TDM since he was already discharged??!

D: I dunno!! Pharmacist asked to repeat one mah!!

P: Dr, next time if patient is already discharged, DON'T send samples for TDM anymore, ok?! There's no point!

D: Ok ok...

(-__________-"') Don't just follow instructions, use ur brain to think lah... Dots...

Totally eerie~

Despite all the dramatic moments on the Friday of 03/04, I was on-call at the A&E pharmacy on the following Saturday and Sunday, from 12a.m. to 8a.m. Completed the report for incident-reporting during my Saturday shift. Grrrrr...

Then on Sunday night, I was on-call with Mr. Z. He asked me about the incident, which I told him in detail since there were very few patients that night. He advised me with some words of wisdom based on his years of experience as a PPF. They all made very much sense to me. One of which that stroke me deeply was the importance of keeping all objects with sharp edge(s) under the counter, away from the sight of all patients, to avoid the possibility of them being suddenly grasped and used as a weapon against us. While saying so, he kept aside the scissors on the counter. He insisted that he was not being paranoid because anything could happen at an open-counter pharmacy, especially in the middle of the night, with the Jaga dozing off...

Honestly, I was a wee bit scared, probably due to the way he was putting it.. In fact, I must admit that was a bit paranoid. Around 130a.m., a Malay guy in T-shirt, pants, and slippers (quite big in size, not very tidy) came wandering about at the pharmacy, but he had no Rx and did not ask for any medication. I was all alone at that time. Mr. Z had gone to the satelite pharmacy upstair to handle some indents from the wards. The Malay guy then sat down quietly at the waiting area, sambil watching TV sambil eyeing my laptop from time to time. I didn't know what he was up to. So I just observed him at the corner of my eyes. Then suddenly he stood up and walked straight to my direction.

I was like "OMG, shit shit shit... What's he gonna do?" (All the scary stories Mr. Z told me started flashing through my mind)

Then he leaned forward at and looked over the counter (with me gripping my laptop dead tight with both my hands), trying to see what I was doing with my laptop. Then he asked, "Laptop baru eh?" In an attemp to defend my darling Dong Dong from being snatched, I answered, "Tak lah.. Sudah laaaaaaaaaama.." With his eyes locking on my laptop, he pursued, "Ni model Toshiba eh?" I answered, "Yeah..." *Go away go away lah! Why are u still here?!*

As I was freaking out, he introduced himself. Oooooh... Rupa-rupanya he was the HO on-call from the medical ward lah... Ah cheh!! He's a friend of my colleague. Came over just to have a short chat with another soul on-call since he was so damn bored. Darn! Wore until so chin-chai!! Not my fault my brain couldn't relate his appearance to his occupation loh.. Duh!! Hahaha.. sorry ya!! =P

I laughed at myself for my overreaction when he left. Decided not to let Mr. Z's stories freak me out and so I started to relax, watching V for Vendetta (u don't have to remind me of the fact that I'm outdated enough to live in the jungle) while waiting for the night to pass.

It was 4a.m. and I was close to dozing off when I heard footsteps approaching. Next thing I saw was a slightly plump woman in yellow-coloured tudung walking towards my direction. She was not in traditional Malay costume. Instead, she was wearing a blouse and a long skirt. I couldn't tell if she was a Malay for the lighting was dim and the tudung covered almost half of her face.

Then, she was right in front of me. The thick red-coloured lipgloss looked way too familiar... And the face! And the voice as she spoke,

"Xiao jie, wo gei gou yao dao jiao! Wo yao na yao gao!" while pushing her Rx and appointment book towards me.

Walao eh!! Confirmed 100% she was the PSY aunty who slapped me just 2 days ago loh!!

My immediate reaction was to slam my Dong Dong shut and push myself away from the counter, albeit in the most natural way I could manage so as not to provoke her once again. I could totally feel my adrenaline rush as my heart went "pip pok pip pok" in my chest. I was wondering if she'd recognize me and call me slut and slap me on the face yet another time, but it seemed like she didn't remember a single bit about my "affair with the ah ji ah cho doctor" and the shiok-ness of slapping my left cheek.

Luckily Mr. Z was with me. In fact, he was still upstair in the satelite pharmacy 5 minutes before the PSY aunty arrived loh. He came back just in time to save my @ss.. So I mouthed to Mr. Z quietly,

"She was the one who slapped me the other day!"

Mr. Z got it immediately and became fully alert as well. Honestly, he was damn MAN at that moment loh. He stood up to take over my place and told me to just stand behind him and be very careful. I obeyed like a frightened kitten. Honestly, I was a bit scared.

Mr. Z took the Rx from the PSY aunty and looked. T. Multivitamin 1/1 od X 1/52. Obviously the doctor simply prescribed something to satisfy her. And obviously, no dog was unlucky enough to have bitten her leg. Mr. Z quickly dispensed the 7 biji of MVT to her. When Mr. Z called out her name, she somemore corrected Mr. Z saying that she was DBC, not ABC. Walao eh, confirmed this aunty Schizo one loh! I saw her IC before. Unless both my eyes have got glaucoma, I am 102% sure that her name is ABC loh..

That aunty was not satisfied with the MVT. She kept leaning over the counter to point at the cream/ointment compartment, insisting that she was just bitten by the dog and that we must give her one of those. Mr. Z told her Doctor didn't prescribe anything of that sort to her and asked her to leave. She took her MVT and walked away for about 5 steps then turned around and returned to the counter again to start telling stories about her neighbour lah, her brother lah, her children lah, and the list goes on. This time, Mr. Z raised his voice, and told her sternly to leave NOW. She hesitated then continued rambling for awhile and finally left... What a huge relief to both me and Mr. Z. Phew...

Darn eerie loh!! I never expect seeing PSY patient at 4 o'clock in the morning loh!! Not to mention one who had just slapped me 2 days ago!! Did I like step on dog shit ah? Why so sueh one har? Oh well, from another point of view, I actually found it a good thing that I was the one on-call that day. Imagine what could happen if the one on-call were to be someone who were completely clueless of her aggressive behaviour... Open-counter is really quite dangerous lah.. Hmm.. I still wonder how that PSY aunty got to the hosp in the middle of the night... Did she like drive? Or walked all the way there? (> <")

Last Thursday, I thought I was going to kena again from a SPUB uncle from JB. Lets call him The Bodoh One (TBO for short) from this point onwards. So, TBO came with this Rx that includes Mensa Cream. Found out from FRP that we have no Mensa Cream and we usually substitute with LMS cream. I happened to be the lucky one to dispense TBO's medicine. The LMS cream was pre-packed into a cream container. I held up the LMS cream and told him politely, "Ini ubat sapu untuk tempat yang sakit ya.."

He interrupted, "EH!! Ini bukan lah!! Saya biasanya guna tiub biru punya! Pakai ni tak ada effect lah! Saya nak jenis tiub biru tu!"

Ok. The content in the blue tube was LMS cream also lor! That was last month's stock. We only had few batang left so we gave them all out before starting to supply the pre-packed LMS Cream in the small cream container loh. Seemed like he was one of the "lucky" one (unlucky for me though) to receive the blue tube LMS cream. Now that the blue tube type had finished, he thought I could melahirkan one for him meh? So I tried to talk him around, explaining to him that the contents are the same.

But this TBO, having the illusion that he himself is THE pharmacist in this situation, raised his voice and said " Awak jangan TIPU saya! Ni dua mana sama?! Saya tau! Saya nak jenis tiub biru tu! Awak jangan TIPU saya!!"

Walao eh! I paling benci patients say I lie to them one loh, WTF!! What for I lie to u?! U think by lying and providing u cheap medicine I can gain anything from the F-ing tax u paid to the gov ah? Damn it!!

Nvm, I tahan. Call it the placebo effect or whatever glamour sh*t terms u want. So I told him I'd check if there is any blue tube LMS cream left that I could replace his LMS cream in the small cream container with. So, I went into the filling area and asked out loud to everyone there," Patient nak LMS cream jenis tiub biru tu. Kita masih ada stok tak?" to which the FRPs and PPFs answered, "Kenapa? Tak ada lagi lah! Kasi tau dia itu LMS cream kita picit keluar daripada tiub biru punya. Kita dah tak ada jenis tiub biru itu lagi lah!"

And so I obeyed. To his disbelief, TBO got angry, "Tak mungkin lah! Away jangan TIPU saya!! Awak cakap tak ada kan? Tak apa. Saya pergi COMPLAIN KEPADA PENGARAH AWAK!!"

At this point, one of the PPF came out to the counter and repeated the same story. TBO was still not convinced and kept claiming that he'd go complain to the Pengarah if we didn't provide him what he wanted. So PPF said there might be some left and she'd go check the stock for TBO, thus leaving me and TBO at the counter.

About 2 mins later, PPF came out with one blue tube LMS cream in her hand!!! She then dispensed it to TBO!!!!!

OK. I must say, in this situation, I really couldn't agree with what the PPF had done. I know this saved us the trouble of answering a complain lodged by TBO, but come on, because of this I could be labelled a LIAR from now on, ok?! Hey, if u told me there is none left, that's exactly what u should have told the patient as well what! Be firm with ur stand!! If there were some stocks, u should have told me so and move ur lazy @ss to get one out for me earlier!!! Instead of getting it out only as TBO threatened to complain while I was trying hard to explain to him that I wasn't lying and there really wasn't any left!! Imagine how ur reaction embarassed me in front of him and other patients!! Why made me lie when I didn't have such intention?! Walao eh... To hell with "Jangan TIPU saya!" Damn it!!

Speaking of complain, 2 days ago there was this uncle who came to our hosp for Moduretic. Let's call him the Moduretic Uncle then. Well, our hosp had run out of Moduretic since 100yrs ago. We placed the order like 200 yrs ago dy, but until now we haven't heard of any news yet. Maybe the company needs to import Moduretic from Mars that's why it's been taking so long. We already informed all the Klinik Kesihatan to stop sending patients to our hosp for Moduretic liao, but none seems to understand human language. So, this Moduretic Uncle was directed from one of the Klinik to our hosp for his Moduretic.

Upon screening his Rx, I informed Moduretic Uncle politely (with the friendliest smile) that our hosp had run out of that medicine as well and what I could do for him was to take down his phone number and to call to inform him when the medicine arrives. I wonder if Moduretic Uncle suffered from hyperthyroidism for he somehow got very irritated by my statement.

"What? No medicine again? What is this? Har? U know how many times I travelled to and fro already ah? 4 times already, ok! Last time also like that! What are u all doing, man?!"

"Uncle, u see, this has happened for quite some time already. See, so many other patients are not getting the medicine as well. We already placed the order, but the company hasn't sent us the medicine yet..."

"NO!! U cannot say so!! Do u know this is a medicine for high blood pressure? *DUH!! Abu then?? U think my degree fake one ah??* No medicine ppl can die one u know?? Do u know how dangerous this is?!! How can ur hosp be like that? I think I am going to write to the newspaper to expose this!!! What la u ppl?!!"

I was a bit beh song already, but I tried to tahan. "Yes yes Uncle, I know. We're trying our best. Maybe u can go to the pharmacy outside and get a few tablets to hang on first. It's not very expensive. We will inform u once we have got the medicine. We're trying our best here..."

"NO!! That is NOT the case!! It's NOT about buying or not, it's about ur lousy system!! I am going to write to Liow Tiong Lai to complain about this!!!"

My blood temperature raised to the boiling point. If being accused for lying is one thing I hate most, being threatened by patient who thinks complaining could solve all the F-ing problems comes in second. I seriously felt like shouting, "Like I care?!! Wanna complain go complain lah!! I don't give a damn!! Go complain also wont get u ur medicine loh!! My own uncle is not getting the medicine as well loh, ok?!"

Luckily one FRP came out just in time to take over so I didn't have to reason with that Moduretic Uncle anymore. I just sat aside to listen to the pointless argument. Finally Moduretic Uncle realized he was just wasting everybody's time so he made us took down his phone number before leaving. As I was doing so, he reiterated the point that he was going to complain to Liow Tiong Lai (like our Health Minister was his best fren like that). I really tak boleh tahan dy so I sengih in return. Think he realized I was quite beh song dy, so he finally said something human-ish.

"I'm not complaining about u. It's the system. Liow Tiong Lai should know about it."

My anger simmered abit, but still, I kept quiet. I gave him a polite smile though. Moduretic Uncle then left.

Sigh.. I never knew dealing with angry patient is part of a pharmacist's daily routine as well. Teacher never teach in school leh..

Haiyo.. Uncle Aunty oh.. Would u stop threatening us with all ur complaints? Do u think we would be intimidated and reply,"Oh, sorry sorry!! Pls don't complain!! Pls, I beg of u!! I'll go get u the medicine now. Sorry!!"? No lo.. What makes u think we'd simpan the medicines and prevent u all from accessing them? It's not like the longer we simpan the medicines the more would turn into golden bars loh... Of course u have all the rights to complain if we behave like some stuck up bitches or if we never take any reasonable steps to solve the problems. But when we have apologized sincerely and explained how hard we have tried to provide u a quality healthcare service, could u pls at least be more polite to us? Think twice, before u react, ok?

And to a certain group of Doctors, when u make mistakes, we informed u in a humble way just to ensure that u won't cause DEATH. Pls don't be oversensitive and overreact like we are trying to make fun of u, ok? We are not that free for ur information. We care more for the patients, NOT u. Plus, when we make mistakes, could u pls remind us like the way we reminded u before, instead of calling to the pharmacy and simply shout at the unlucky soul who happens to be the one picking up the god-damned phone? Hey, having the title "DOCTOR" doesn't give u any right to simply SHOUT and vent ur anger on the pharmacists, alright? Just like having the title also doesn't save u from being scolded a "SCUMBAG" by a humble pharmacist like me on this humble blog of mine. Pls learn from ur fellow colleagues whom we respect much. These Doctors earned their respects, and they definitely didn't do that by shouting around. Period.

Finally, some good news to share! Forensic Exam results were released and I'm seriously glad that most of us passed!! Woohoo!!~ Congratulations, peeps!! =)

To my dear frens who didn't make it this time, don't be disheartened. Afterall, we weren't exposed to these before in the University. Moreover, what's this compared to PP3, right? We had come through together in year 2008 and am sure it's gonna be the same in year 2009. Jia you!! We will all get through and become fully registered by the end of this year!! Hek!!! =)

Money really very hard to earn ah...

Background music: Daniel Powter's "Bad Day"

Fell sick dy. Since 4 days ago. Coughed like mad, plus flu, plus sore throat, plus fever. Fine. This morning woke up late. Effect of too much anti-histamine. Got into the car, started the engine, no response. Started again, alarm was triggered, but still no response. Early in the morning me & dad gotta push the car all the way out to give way to another car parked inside so that I could go work with that car... Good exercise huh? (-__-")

Reached hosp. Started dispensing immediately. An aunty who'd applied super thick red-coloured lipgloss approached me to ask for her medications.

"I left my medicines here last wednesday. U bring out to me."

Then she started complaining, "Aiyo!! The doctor very bad lah!! Early early ah ji ah cho!! So noisy!! Blah blah blah blah blah..."

So I told her to take a seat and tried to look around for her med, but still couldn't find.

Asked her for Rx, she didn't have. Pembantu came out to ask for her appointment book so that we'd know what drugs to give.

IM Fluanxol. Clopixol sulphate. Just discharged from the ward few days ago.

Ok. PSY patient. But can't give her med without Psy form from the Dr. as well. So pembantu asked her to go see a doctor to get a Rx.

She left, but came back in few minutes time. Without Rx.

"Doctors didn't let me see them lah! Early early morning ah ji ah cho dy!! Aiyo, give me medicine lah! I give u my book! Doctor got write inside lah! U see!"

So I took over the book and read the content to see if I could find anything useful.

Suddenly she accused me loudly, "YOU MUST HAVE HAD AN AFFAIR WITH THE DOCTOR LAH!!!!!" and slapped me on the face. My specs flew out and dropped onto the counter. The entire outpatient department suddenly became dead quiet, with all the other patients' eyes focusing on me and her.

Walao eh.. Damn dramatic.. Just like the super classic scene in Moonlight Resonance, no? Well, at that particular moment, that was what appeared in my mind loh... Haha..

I didn't expect the slap coming. Honestly, she looked quite OK before that. Plus, my stupid URTI and the anti-histamine effect made my reaction damn slow. Don't think I could have avoided the slap even if I'd seen it coming like the Matrix way loh.

Funny thing was, I didn't get angry. If it had come from a normal patient, I might have crawled over the counter and slapped her back. The thing was, she was a PSY patient. At that point, I seriously didn't see the need to argue or fight with her. I just smiled and quietly picked up my specs from the counter and told her to sit down. Then I calmly retreated from the counter and brought her book in to tell the FRP that the patient slapped me and asked if there's anything we could do to supply her the medicine.

Ironically, FRP were the one who got super shocked. They called up the PSY secuirity to bring the patient to doctor and checked if my face was disfigured. Haha.. Told them I was OK and I went out to dispense again to the other patients, with the PSY aunty still shouting at me for medicine. This time I stood far far away from the counter la of course.

Awhile later the patient was brought away. FRP were expecting me to get traumatized and cry. They got someone else to replace my job and asked me to stay inside and rest. Told them I was OK but they insisted. Soon after that, the news travelled at such speed that the entire pharmacy department, upstair downstair, also knew about it liao. Then everyone started asking me about the incident, of which I repeated like N times dy at the end of the day.

Some after listening asked, "Painful or not?" I was like "Errrrrrrrmmm... "

Like Duh?!!

Some said, "Why didn't u shout back at her!! Scold her lah at least!! Later ppl think we all very easy to bully. Wah.. U really can tahan, huh?"

Hmm.. I didn't know how to answer for I really didn't see the need to do so. Very ironic hor? I think my old self would probably have transformed into the Hulk and tore her into pieces liao. I didn't know since when My EQ has improved so much. In other words, I have lost my backbone completely after working for 5 months in a gov. hosp. Ming, am in ur backbone-less gang dy!! XP

Hmm... Did the incident hurt me badly? The answer is a firm NO. Not a single bit. But the way some ppl reacted to it really hurt me badly. U see when such incident happened, it's always way too easy to differentiate the one who genuinely cares for u from the one who fakes it. U thought someone cared very much for u, but things turned out the other way round and u saw it right through. THIS, is what really hurts...

Moral of the story: Get a MC when u're sick!! Don't go to work!! Cause u tend to have slower reactions!! LOL... XD

K lah K lah. I gotta sleep liao.. No weekends for me this week! Gotta do overnight shift on Saturday and Sunday.. From 12a.m. to 8a.m. =( Then this coming Wednesday I also gotta work. What weekends?! What public holiday??!!! Grrrrrrrr... Luckily my time-off applications for Monday and Tuesday were approved liao. Tee hehe... Compensation.. =P

P/S. I gotta do incident reporting for this somemore. Grrrrr... Mafan dao~

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!! :D

As I've said before, it's St. Patrick's Day today!! Am supposed to be in green & drinking Guiness, but since I'm on leave today, I'm still wearing the pajama that I slept with last night and because nobody in my house drinks Guiness, I have opted for Anglia Shandy. Kaka.. Pembelot betul!! :p

Speaking of on leave, I took time-off for both yesterday & today actually. Was on-call & working the entire week last week. From 2p.m. to 11p.m. on weekdays and 4p.m. to 12a.m. on weekend. Plus presenting on clinical cases & handing in clinical case reports on Wednesday. Was exhausted dy by the end of the week. Actually not THAT tired lah, just that I really need some time to prepare for the upcoming forensic exam, which I happily spent most on sleeping & stoning... T_T Just finished buffering "Twilight" on Tudou. Shit, I really should refrain myself from hitting the "play" button and go study instead. Stop me, pls!!

Anyways, it was my first time doing the A&E and locum shift. Pretty late to start with, I know. Haha.. Was just transferred to OPD late February ma. That's why I got the privilage. Kaka.. Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be loh. Let me summarise my disastrous experience below for ur enjoyment.

Day 1

Happily woke up at around 8:30a.m. It's a public holiday so my working time was from 4p.m. till 12a.m. Was preparing for breakfast when I received a call from S, who had been working from 12a.m. the night before. He was supposed to pass over to A at 8a.m., but A didn't turn out or pick up the phone when he called. He asked if I could replace A. Others either didn't pick up his phone or were not around. I knew he was very tired dy and wanted to help,but my situation didn't allow lah. See, if I replace A, who's gonna replace me later on at night? That means I would have to work from 9a.m. straight till 12a.m. at night!! Crazy.. I felt really bad to reject him though. So I compromised and agreed to replace A from 12p.m. onwards. So he & I would both work for 12 hours each loh. Fair enough ma..

Luckily A called back about half an hour later and rushed to work immediately. She didn't know she was the one working in the morning.

I took over at 4p.m. Now that the locum clinic has got famous, there were so many patients! Non-stop.. Needless to say, lotsa syrup reconstitution & compounding loh. En. R went for dinner at around 745p.m leaving me alone at the counter, at which point patients started flooding in (I really don't understand why the crowd always appears when the fabulous dispenser is away lor, grrrrr). Damn kelam-kabut hunting around for drugs, making syrup, calling Drs up when they accidentally prescribed List A item or wrong frequency. As I've said, it was my first night ma.

Then suddenly I received a call from the surgical ward, asking me the correct method to dilute & infuse Sandostatin!!! Gosh, I swear I didn't even know wth Sandostatin was! At first, I even thought they were asking about Simvastatin, which made me stupidly asked, "Huh? Simvastatin can be diluted & infused one meh?" XP The best thing was, Sandostatin & the greatest publication of all time - Drug Info were upstair in the satelite pharmacy while I was downstair alone. Told them I'd call back later when I got the answer. The phone rang immediately just when I put it down. Medical ward wanna indent for DD. Fine. Then my handphone rang. FRP called to ask me to countercheck & distribute the chemo drugs that just got freshly delivered back from Muar.

OH MY GOSH!! I wish I was an octopus!! Honestly, was freaking scared lor. I've never handled chemo drugs before. Later got spillage how lah? Would I kena cancer? Damn kiasi loh!! Then that smart surgical ward somemore kept calling to ask if their Sandostatin answer was ready. Grrrrrrrrrrrr...

All those were in my mind but I couldn't leave the busy counter. Scare the already frustrated why-the-pharmacist-kept-chatting-on-the-phone-but-not-dispensing patients would go into a riot. But also worried if I neglect the reconstituted chemo drugs for too long it would start to degenerate. How lah how lah? Then my handphone rang again. Was really annoyed and went like "HELLO?!!" only to find out that it was from the harmless Lee Yin. Think I scared her liao. Haha... Sorry, Lee Yin!!! XP

Luckily my saviour En. R got back later on so I was able to rush to the Satelite upstairs & got everything settled. Phew... =)

Note: Pls don't wait till ur DD stock turns zero then only start calling up the pharmacist on-call. Check ur stock & indent during office hours lah. And Drs, pls don't expect the pharmacist to give answer immediately especially when u ask for something that u're supposed to know better than us. We are very busy as well de, alright?

Day 2

Patients from the clinics couldn't be cleared till after office hours. And Drs from the wards happily discarged their patients after 5p.m. Again, it was a crazy day. At night somemore got a teenage girl who came over to request for "ubat untuk kuruskan badan". Erm... I didn't know if I should laugh or cry... (-__-")

Day 3

Dr. X called to ask for advice. Answered. Then received a problematic Rx from Dr. X about 10secs later. Called Dr. X, who said he would confirm & call back, which he did but only to tell me that he didn't recall handling that patient. So he promised to double-check & call back again. When I was fighting with the stubborn Ampicillin that got stuck to the bottle, he called & said "I'm Dr. XYZ, OK?! Dr XYZ" & hung up before I could say anything. I was like "What?" then I saw the stamp on the Rx being Dr. XWV and I realized what went wrong. Hello? How'd I know if u're XYZ not XWV lah? I asked for Dr. X and they put u on the phone ma. Pls remember to stamp ur Rx properly with "Locum" or "A&E" next time so that I know which Dr. X I'm talking to lah...

Day 4

The son of a SPUB patient from HSA came to ask for Nimotop at around 10p.m.. Told him I was not supposed to dispense ubat susulan at that hour but he insisted that his dad had finished all the supply already & asked me to tolong cause his dad had to take Nimotop every 4 hourly. Kak A went sembahyang already. Honestly, I had no idea wth Nimotop was but I agreed to try & help. Found out from MIMS that it was Nimodipine actually. I searched up & down for it but couldn't find. The patient waited for almost half an hour already so in the end I had to kacau Kak. A who was praying. So paisay!! Luckily she was done already.. XP

Kak A told me we memang never have any Nimotop before. She didn't understand why patient had a SPUB letter referring to our hosp. When checked, only we found out that HSA merely supplied Nimotop for a day and then SPUB the patient to us liao. Think we hadn't even received the fax, not to mention having time to order for the drug loh. In the end had to apologize to the patient's son and told him to go back to HSA for the remaining supply after he had waited for so long. Felt very sorry towards him lah.. Aiks... (>.<")

Which of u in HSA did that har? Nyek hehe..

Day 5

Surgical ward called again. This time to ask for the infusion method of Polymicin B for a MRSA infected patient. Said they couldn't understand the instruction given by the pharmacist who supplied them with the drug earlier on. Sigh, why always called after office hour lah? So I quickly called up my FRP. He told me he had already supplied the product information leaflet together with the drug and even highlighted the instruction to follow. Both of us didn't understand why they couldn't read. Ish. So, after much explanation, the problem was finally solved.

Day 6

Dr asked for Syp. Maxolon 5mg TDS. En. R was away for dinner. Patients were again flooding in. I had never made a Maxolon syrup before. I never knew that Maxolon tablet could be so hard!! When I tried to crush the tablets in the mortar by force, 2 of them "flew" out!! So malu!! Luckily I was doing that behind a shelf. If not I'd have become the greatest entertainment for all the awaiting patients liao. Damn geram with the Maxolon tablets lor. Somemore the patient's mum kept asking "Hao liao ma? Hao liao ma?". Grrrrrr...

In the end, I gave up. Called up the Dr. and asked if he could change the anti-emetic to the ready-made Syp. Phenergan. Thank Goodness he agreed. Saved me breath to susah-payah explain to the patient's mum that making syrup DOES take time.. (-__-")

Quickly consulted En. R for the correct way to make a Maxolon syrup when he got back. En. R did it so elegantly without much effort loh. Ish... T_T

Day 7

Last day!! Thought I would survive through without much hassel. Mana tau the pharmacist from Hosp. Z called at peak hour. Wanna borrow 6 vials of Drug A. Emergency case. Told her I have to consult my Boss first. So she gave me her hp number & asked to call back. I shun bian asked for the Hosp. number as well.

Boss asked me to check on the stock in Satelite first. Told him I was alone cause Mr. Z went to help out at the gotong-royong liao. So he sent someone else to check & gave me the green light. So I called to the pharmacist's hp number which she didn't pick up!! Called again, still the same. Called again, up to no good. Grrrrr... What for giving me ur hp number when u're not even going to pick it up lah? Luckily I got the Hosp. number as well. So I called and she picked up. Grrrrrrrrrr....

Told her we could lend her 6 vials of Drug A, but then she said "My Boss said, can borrow 10 vials instead ah?" Grrrrrrrr!! Should have told me earlier what!! So I said I have to confirm with my Boss again. She said "Har? Have to confirm ah? Ok Ok..." DUH??!!! So I called up Boss & he considered & granted permission to lend. So, I called back to tell the pharmacist the good news, to which she said, "Oh ya, can we borrow 10 vials of Drug B as well?"

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Why can't u tell me everything at one go lah? Think I very free meh? Patients already wanted to kill me for putting their Rx aside way too long than I should have lor. So I called up Boss again (whom I think wanted to kill me as well for kacau-ing him way too much on a Sunday night) who asked me to check on my own this time since Mr. Z was on his way back already. Then I requested Mr. Z to check for me and called back to Boss again for instruction. Boss agreed to lend. So I called back to the pharmacist from Hosp. Z. Luckily this time she didn't ask if she could borrow 10 vials of Drug C. If not, I think I would go berserk and stomp on the phone in front of all the patients liao..

She directed the indent form to me, which when I received, found that she got my name wrongly spelled somemore... (-_____________-")

That's all about my first on-call experience. Lazy to blog liao. Been spending way too much time blogging dy. DDA!!! POISON ACT!!!!! Oh my Gosh!! XP

me no like clinical...

"Freaking tired"

That's the only description I could come up with.

Not even a place allocated for pharmacist to sit in the ward. Stood throughout the day.

When nurses or doctors come round for BHT/Format I/Buku Census, I kena "shoo-ed" aside pulak.

Even when aunty sapu lantai comes round, I have to give way.

Sad case wei.. Thought clinical pharmacist was supposed to look G.L.A.M.O.U.R T_T

What's more, there are so so sooooooooooo many things to do!! Gosh!!Supposingly, my everyday routine includes filling in CP1 for all newly admitted patients in my respective ward, follow doctor's ward round, clerk 3 cases per day (FRP gives big No-No to uncontrolled HPT, uncontrolled DM & AEBA... Urgh!! There goes my favourites!!), counsel at least 2 patients per day, and do TDM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wah!! Like I have 48 hours a day??

AND, the best news is that, I HAVE to compensate for all the targets missed over public holidays and personal leave!!!!! In other words, public holiday or not, I die die have to produce 3 cases and counsel 2 patients per day lah!! Darn it!! Just when I thought I could curi-tulang abit over Christmas...

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

I have resort to wearing flat-bottom shoes even though this was only my 2nd day in clinical department. Cannot tahan the lactic acid accumulation in my legs lah!! Can get pedal oedema if I wear high heels lagi...

Not fun lah!! I shouldn't have complained so much when I was in inpatient.. XP Am actually looking forward to my remainder weeks in inpatient liao.. Haha.. Luckily Clinical is only for 6 weeks and mine would be completed before CNY.. Yippie!! =D

K lah K lah.. Going to sleep now... Haven't even done PCI for all the cases I clerked. Shitty..

P/S. Am so going KL over the Christmas weekend!! Will start journey on 27th morning and come back on 29th morning. It's MEGASALES, ppl!! What are u waiting for?? XD XD Any shopping kaki(sssss) out there?? XD XD

Wild Thoughts

Realized it's quite easy to commit suicide in the satellite pharmacy.

See ya.. Drugs like Phenytoin, Theophylline, Digoxin and etc. are all within reach. Drugs of which a slight tiny bit of overdosage could lead to fatal consequences.

And these drugs could be given without the need of a pakar's counter-sign.

If I were to take a few more out while filling in prescriptions and hide them in my pocket and send them all down my throat with some water over lunch time...

Nyek nyek nyek nyek nyek......

Shit... I must have been too stressed out at work dy...

P/S. Just got to know today that a box of Olanzapine (28 biji) costs around RM400-500!!!!! And gov hosps are giving them out at the cost of a symbolic RM1 only!!!!! If u happen to be a gov servant, u dun even have to pay a single cent!! OMG!!!!! Malaysian's gov hosp ROCKS!!!!! XD =P

Am I progressing too fast?

Catching up with my work dy.

Learning more & more stuffs by days.


But......


I'm starting to lose faith,

and passion...


......


Why do I have to head straight to the last stage without even going through a brief period of enjoying-my-current-job moment???

Sigh...

TGIF!!!!!~~~

TGIF!!!!!~~~

Aaaaaah aaaaahhh!! Wow Wooooow!! Weeeee Weeeeeeee!! Woooooh wooooooooooooH!!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~~~

Relief eh!! I'm both mentally & physically tired dy.. Need a rest.. This morning almost couldn't get out of bed. Whole body aching... Like an Ah Po..

But note, I said relief. Not happy. Yeah, I dunno why but I'm not all that happy with the weekend's arrival. Feel abit uneasy and anxious in fact. Can't sit still. Kept sighing. Abit hot temper. Weird huh? That shouldn't be my reaction towards my first precious weekend off what...

Am I too stressed out? I shouldn't be what.. Ppl said HBP very free geh?

Anyway, gotta update abit on my working life here...

Offically started working on 4th Nov. 3rd just went there fill forms & chit-chat XD So will regard 4th Nov as my first day of work from this point onwards.

Was sent to inpatient department. Well, first day was disastrous. Was C.O.M.P.L.E.T.E.L.Y lost. Yes, I am not being humble here. Felt like a piece of shit. Trolley full of Rx started coming in the moment I arrived. EVERYONE expected me to know what I was supposed to do!!

But the fact is, I just stood there helplessly. Staring blindly at the dispensers, PRPs, and FRPs rushing about here & there, having no idea wth were they doing. No one even cared to bother me. Probably they thought I was supposed to know what's going on...

Then I approached & consulted a PRP. She showed me the right way to handle a Rx and filled in all the requested medications so professionally. I looked at her with admiration only to find out later that she's a UKM graduant and it was her FIRST day in the inpatient department as well!!!!! WHAT???!! I mean, I know local students are damn geng lah, but I never expect them to know sooooooooooo much eh!!! I was like a piece of trash standing next to her...

Lucky she was nice. So I followed her to handle a few Rx and tried to start handling one on my own. Gosh. It was tough. I couldn't even locate the drugs! U see, some were arranged in alphabetical order, some according to diseases, some on another cupboard, some in the back room, some were simply placed on the table, and some under the table!! @_@???

How organize can they be? I wonder if all hosp. are the same or it's just HBP?

As if this wasn't bad enough, I was told that List A drugs have to be counter-signed before dispensing and certain dispenses drugs have to be recorded. Blurred to the max. So I asked, " What are List A drugs?" only to get "Very hard to say. Something like expensive drugs that can only be given by specialist." So I continued, "So is there anywhere that I can read up on this?" and got "No. Only by experience..." (o_O")

Then I pursued, "So what are the drugs that have to be recorded?" which again I got "Expensive drugs"...

HOW ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW LAH????? It's not like they label the drugs with their respective prices..

So I kept asking questions regarding the location of drugs, whether they have to be counter-signed, how much should I dispense (can't give out too many drugs of which the stocks are running low of which I had no idea at all), blah blah blah blah blah blah...

Was a complete annoyance. Kept interrupting others' work by asking stupiak questions. Felt extremely useless + embarassed. A burden to the entire department. They could work faster and better without my existence...

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

Was in a very bad mood by the end of the day. When it was about 5p.m., there was nothing much left to do. All the FRPs, PRPs, and dispensers sat down to relax and chat. I was so tensed up that I had no mood to join them. I walked around the dispensary, trying to get myself familiar with the location of the drugs...

Oh, did I mention that they label some drugs according to generic name and some according to brand name?? Did I mention that even doctors prescribed drugs in brand name?? Flagyl sounds very much like bulk laxative to me but it's Metronidazole in fact. Diamox = Acetylzolamide, Gelusil = Magnisium Trisylicate & etc etc etc...

???????????????????????????????????????

Was extremely frustrated & depressed at the end of the day. Mum knew I had had a hard day so she made me super super nice dinner to console me. Hehe.. so sweet of her... At least that made my day much better.. =)

Lucky thing was that my last minute hardwork din go to waste. Starting to catch up on the 2nd day. Did everything faster and gathered up enough courage to answer phonecalls from the ward (even though most of the time I couldn't answer and would just pass the phone to the FRPs). I also asked much lesser questions, found most of the drugs, and even pointed out the location of some to another PRP when he couldn't find it! Aaaaahhh... The sense of achievement... =)

Then I started following FRP to the ward to do bedside counselling. Had seen them giving counselling on eye drops, aerochamber, and Humapen so far liao... =)

Volunteered to handle Imprest Floor Stock. Can now do it on my own liao.. Also, learned about the procedure of dispensing DD today.. =)

At least I don't feel so blur anymore...

BUT, I still make mistakes when dispensing first-time-handled drugs. Just kena tegur-ed today for not recording the dispensing of some "expensive" drugs and for dispensing too much (din realize 1 box of Clexane contains 2amps). Felt bad lah of course. But no one really took the initiative to teach me starting from the first day leh. Mostly, I learned on my own, by asking and by making mistakes. But I hate learning from mistakes... The feeling of making mistakes and kena tegur is awful... Moreover, life's at stake!!!

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

I paling hate the "only-experience-can-tell" part... It renders me helpless...

I wish the FRPs could guide us (PRP) more. They are nice and friendly. I am glad to have them. The only thing is that, they know the PRP are incompetent and lack essential knowledge, but they seemed to take no action about it leh. They always look very busy. So I didn't even dare to bother them with my stupiak questions. Was hoping that maybe one day when they are free they would teach.

But know what? I saw one of them playing Bejeweled-look-alike game in the resting room today... (-__-") Maybe just taking a short break after a long stressful day ba... Hmm...Dunno leh... Hope I would learn more as time goes by le...

Anyway, am lazy to continue this super long post liao.. Haha.. I'm OK dy le.. I will jia you de.. The passion is still there. I will make sure I work very hard de. I promised myself to be a good pharmacist already. So I must thrive to achieve it!! Let's work towards our targets ba, all IMU-Mpharm-graduated PRPs!!!!! HEK!!!!! =)

P/S. I super agree with Ming in hating IMU. But I'm more specific lah. I only hate IMU Mpharm program coordinators. Think Bpharm is quite OK lah...

Amateur Pharmacist

OK. Gotta cut long story short. Super tired.

Woke up at 430a.m. Travelled to JB. Arrived in Wisma Persekutuan. Took form & completed within 5mins. Done. Rushed 2 Menara Sarawak immediately. Apparently Menara Sarawak has been renamed as Menara Cyberport liao.

Only 9 of us today. Got one super outspoken Malay Gal from University of London. With accent! Cheh wah! Was late but challenged Head of Dep when tegur-ed for the wrongly stated building name. "U all SHOULD change the address". Wah...

All were assigned to the desired hosp. Happy! Small batch no competitor ma.

Oh ya. Ja Yee and Chew Yee din lapor. Appealed.

Rushed back to BP when everything was done. Reported at Hosp. Batu Pahat together with Pei Fong. Attempted 3 times only managed to park into a spacious parking lot. Shit.

Person in charged not around. Head of Pharmacy on leave for the day. Waited & waited while chatting. Finally at 420p.m. got the forms and started filling in. Handed in docs after that. Super kelam-kabut. Office hour over liao ma.. Finally got everything settled at 530p.m. The akak was pretty nice. =)

Supposed to report at Pharmacy Outpatient Department after filling in forms. But pharmacist all balik rumah dy at that time. So happily went back home. Kaka..

Mum cooked dinner. Yum yum.. But no appetite. Dunno why. Maybe too tired liao.

So tomolo is gonna be the first official working day. Wish me luck ba!! =)

P/S. A bit sien when come to think that I gotta sleep super early later and wake up super super super early (in my standard lah) tomolo morning and have B.R.E.A.D. as breakfast (equivalent to poison in my standard). Life's wonderful... (>_<")

Posting larh...

Weehee~ Know where I will be posted to dy... Not going to tell u now lar. Bleh! Haha.. Read till the end of this post first mah... =P

Knew from last night that the posting results for my lot would be out this morning. Kah Yee was the first to inform me that she would be posted to HKL. Then Cheah Voon and many many more. Everyone asked me for my posting in turn.

Told them I was in no mood to check yet. Scare scare ma. Wahlao!! Immediately kena bombed dao!!! Aksed me fai fai call lah, dun wuliao lah, cursed me kena Sabah lah and etc etc.

Ouchy!!! Wuwu... 人缘 bad dao~ T_T

But I memang like this wuliao since last time liao de lah.. I also dunno why leh.. PP3 & sem6 results I also waited till I shiok shiok only I checked.. In fact, even the freaking scary final year results also like that leh.. Heard the opposite house screaming & shouting like Zoo Negara (Pei Fung and co., if u know what I meant. Kakaka.. XD oopsy!!) so immediately I knew results were out. Told my housemates and all of them rushed to room to check their results online.

As for me, I lengang-lengang into room to finish watching the episode of Gossip Girl that I just buffered. Then bathed, applied Calamine cream (stupiak chicken pox that time ma), combed hair nice nice, baru I sat down and prepared to log into Spider. Kena bombed by housemates nonetheless.. They were even more kancheong over my results than I did. Haha...

Hmm.. It's not that I dun care le. I was very very kancheong de. Heart like "pik pok pik pok" like that.. stomach ache somemore.. But I just wanted to get mentally prepared first before I rushed into checking the results le. Like today, I waited until I was comfortable and mentally well-prepared enough that if I were to hear this:

"Cik Chua, kau dapat Kelantan/Terengganu/Sarawak/Sabah."

I would go

"Oh well, WTF. This is fate. Accept it and start packing ur @$$ off."

instead of shouting into the phone

"HAAARR?????!!! Apa???!! KENAPA SAYA?!! Tak ala dalam pilihan saya lah!!! Boleh rayu? Macam mana lah encik?? Tolonglah, encik.. Jangan bagi saya boleh tak??? Minta tolong lah..."

So u see the reason why? U see the better reaction in handling the same situation? That's why I was so "bah bai" + wuliao le.. Haha.. It's due to the lack of confidence!! The worry that I might not get what I wanted so badly!!

Oh well.. Anyway, I sent out sms to almost the whole kampung immediately after knowing my posting. I have been posted to... *drums rolling*

JOHOR!!!!!~~~ *clap clap clap clap clap*

It's my first choice!! It's the state that I asked for!!!!! Thanks God!!!!! I am sooooo grateful!!!!! =)

Still dunno which part of Johor I will be working at. Gotta laporkan diri at Kementerian Kesihatan Johor first. Dunno the lapor date as well. Either 16th Oct or 1st Nov ba. Gotta wait for the posting letter first. Hehehe... =)

OK lah.. I wanna go exercise liao. Damn shitty lah.. Put on 3kg after returning from UK. GOSH!!!!! I'm at the borderline of becoming obese!!! Sis even called me "Eh, fat girl"!!! Uugh!! What the... Shikitty shit shit!!! Dun wanna blog liao. Depressed dy.. Tata!!

EDIT: KKM just informed HeHe Sheong that the posting results announced on the 25th had been declared invalid due to some changes. Uugh!!! Asked to call back again after 16th Oct!! Ding Diow...