There's just something different about the department I am working in now. It is the Hospital Procurement Unit (it is also glamourously called the "Store" since we keep many many things there!). It's the unit whereby we procure and supply items for all the departments in the hospital - everything, from drugs to non-drug items.
It's nothing like the Clinical ward Pharmacy, the Outpatient Dispensary/pharmacy, the Inpatient ward supply, the TDM or TPN departments. It is a separate entity altogether, another community physically away from the other departments in the hospital.
The contradicting thing about this department is that:
1. Here, we meet no patients, but we meet a lot of sales representatives from various drug companies.
2. Also, we receive no prescriptions, but we receive a lot of letters and documents, all legal and official.
3. Not to mention, we receive no phone calls asking for "Hey, what's the dose of Chlorpromazine for intractable hiccups?", but we get phone calls asking for "Hey, what's the stock level of Chlorpromazine in our Store?"
4. And, we do not count medications by the number of pills, but we count them by the number of boxes in which they are contained!!
The first impression i got from colleagues about working in Store were - lots of paper work. lots of letters and faxes. lots of recording, lots of red-tape. lots of stock-counting. everything that is to describe the department with one single adjective - mundane.
Well, i must admit that during the first week, i was all bored to the bones. Whenever seniors from other departments need a relief and they asked me for the favour, i would happily do so. But now it's coming to the fourth week of my posting in the Store, and i think i am starting to see the beauty of working in this department. It has some fine touch of experience which i would not possibly get elsewhere.
I observed and learnt how my senior pharmacists deal with the influx of sales representatives (yes, these sales reps come to us, armed with high persuasion skills, so that we purchase their products!). Also i learnt from my seniors, how to estimate the monthly usage of drugs - eg how quickly does our hospital use up Unasyn injections? We have many drug and non-drugs items (perhaps hundreds or even thousands of them), and it is really sometimes a very difficult, nevertheless important, task to monitor the item movement. I learn how to deal with expired or almost expired products, especially if there is a big bulk of them! We try our very best, to minimise loss. After all, it's the tax-payers' money alright.
Also, I learn about how expensive certain drugs are? I heard there is one type of vaccine which may cost up to half the price of a MyVi!? Of course it's not available in our hospital right now. And, how difficult to procure some other rare drugs? Sometimes we have to go through a whole lot of procedures just to get one particular type of drug for one particular patient.
To me, this department is metaphorically equivallent to the 'backbone' for all other departments in the entire hospital. If say Store was to become non-functional, there will be no drugs (and non-drug items) for the wards, operating theatres, and clinics! That means every other departments will not be able to function as well, yea?
I think i'm going to miss my time there. I had good time with my colleague, my seniors, other employees in the office. Even the cleaner and the guard are very nice people - they always smile at me early in the morning!
Now, why did I even think of applying leave this Monday even though I am just going to stay home and rot?
It's nothing like the Clinical ward Pharmacy, the Outpatient Dispensary/pharmacy, the Inpatient ward supply, the TDM or TPN departments. It is a separate entity altogether, another community physically away from the other departments in the hospital.
The contradicting thing about this department is that:
1. Here, we meet no patients, but we meet a lot of sales representatives from various drug companies.
2. Also, we receive no prescriptions, but we receive a lot of letters and documents, all legal and official.
3. Not to mention, we receive no phone calls asking for "Hey, what's the dose of Chlorpromazine for intractable hiccups?", but we get phone calls asking for "Hey, what's the stock level of Chlorpromazine in our Store?"
4. And, we do not count medications by the number of pills, but we count them by the number of boxes in which they are contained!!
The first impression i got from colleagues about working in Store were - lots of paper work. lots of letters and faxes. lots of recording, lots of red-tape. lots of stock-counting. everything that is to describe the department with one single adjective - mundane.
Well, i must admit that during the first week, i was all bored to the bones. Whenever seniors from other departments need a relief and they asked me for the favour, i would happily do so. But now it's coming to the fourth week of my posting in the Store, and i think i am starting to see the beauty of working in this department. It has some fine touch of experience which i would not possibly get elsewhere.
I observed and learnt how my senior pharmacists deal with the influx of sales representatives (yes, these sales reps come to us, armed with high persuasion skills, so that we purchase their products!). Also i learnt from my seniors, how to estimate the monthly usage of drugs - eg how quickly does our hospital use up Unasyn injections? We have many drug and non-drugs items (perhaps hundreds or even thousands of them), and it is really sometimes a very difficult, nevertheless important, task to monitor the item movement. I learn how to deal with expired or almost expired products, especially if there is a big bulk of them! We try our very best, to minimise loss. After all, it's the tax-payers' money alright.
Also, I learn about how expensive certain drugs are? I heard there is one type of vaccine which may cost up to half the price of a MyVi!? Of course it's not available in our hospital right now. And, how difficult to procure some other rare drugs? Sometimes we have to go through a whole lot of procedures just to get one particular type of drug for one particular patient.
To me, this department is metaphorically equivallent to the 'backbone' for all other departments in the entire hospital. If say Store was to become non-functional, there will be no drugs (and non-drug items) for the wards, operating theatres, and clinics! That means every other departments will not be able to function as well, yea?
I think i'm going to miss my time there. I had good time with my colleague, my seniors, other employees in the office. Even the cleaner and the guard are very nice people - they always smile at me early in the morning!
Now, why did I even think of applying leave this Monday even though I am just going to stay home and rot?
2 comments:
hey gurl. really glad that you're taking every task of your job in a positive way. When we have the right attitude, we can survive any job, anytime, anywhere.
How can anyone NOT smile at you? You have been and is still always an angel in so many ways. Love you.
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