As a pharmacy we cover different units,
not only do we support the wards and the pharmacy at The Mount, we do other units.
We're not like a normal chemist where you just come in with your green
prescription and dispense medication. There's many different aspects of dispensing
like there's discharges like we call them TTO's. There's non-stocks which is
the meds that we send to the ward on a daily basis we also do outpatients just
like your normal green prescriptions you take to a normal chemist, we also do
clozapine and we also do out of area stuff as well. Every Monday is our top-up day
so as technicians go on our ward we make sure the patient has enough
supply of medication if not I'll go on EPMA and I'll resupply
medications to keep them going.
Picking is always done first to make sure we've got
the stock. Once picking's done the whole dispensing process takes place, so we'll
go on the computer, we use a system called JAC through that we start dispensing
the medication we do our threeway check of the dispenser making sure the drug,
the strength, the form, the quantity everything matches before we actually
attach the label on to the product once the dispenser is happy with the dispensing
process its put on the check-in station. We also cover the whole
of the clozapine so anybody who is on clozapine in this area go to different
clinics across the sites, basically five different clinics every week which we
have to get ready in pharmacy. We also do a thing here called maps, so this is
like an easy guide for a patient basically of what drugs that they're
on, why they're on it and what it's for. This will then go into the patient's bag they'll
get given to them when on discharge basically and it if they want to they can
take it to their pharmacy and they ask questions if they want to.
If a patient wanted a bit more in-depth
information then we'd go on to the Trust net, or there's this website and it
breaks into detail and it explains what each drug is for, so if I had a patient on my
ward that was prescribed something new or if there were just certain medication that
they wasn't full sure of, first of all as the technician I would make sure that
I've got a full knowledge of that medication I would also print one
of these out as I hand out one for myself and one for the patient then I
would go through each thing; the side effects, different forms, because each drug
could come in different forms, liquid form, capsule form, and it explains
some of the common side effects but another thing I realise it's very
important to emphasise to patients that yes do look out for symptoms but it's not
necessary, these symptoms will happen.
Also whilst I'm speaking to the patient
I would reflect back just to make sure that they've understood what I've said
as well. I've been registered as a technician
since 2012 and for me I've always had that passion in me, I've always had that
drive in me to have more patient contact. So I've been working with the Trust just over three years and I honestly find my job so rewarding.
I'm a people person, I like being with people basically
and I love talking to people. it's always in me to see a patient get better and just
gives you like self satisfaction in my job role to be honest..
