Thursday, March 31, 2011

What now?

I recently applied and received my NPI number. This was actually really easy. The question is what now? Don't get me wrong, I love my new job, so I am not leaving. The thing is that I do not love all of my school debt, and I am looking to supplement my income. I found a list of MTM providers on the APHA website and got in contact with them.  All I have to do now is finish training with one company and I should be set up to provide MTM.

Does anyone know anything about these companies?  Is it worth signing up with them since I do not work at a dispensing pharmacy any longer?  I would like to eventually make this a full time thing, but I am just getting started.  I feel like I'm on the right track, but if some of you who have experience in this field know better (or agree) I would appreciate if you would let me know.

If (somehow) you have questions for me about any of this, just ask.  I'll try to do my best to help anyone out.  I feel like I am an entrepreneur trapped in the body of a debt-ridden, capital lacking, full time employee of the MAN.  (Even though this may be the best pharmacy job anyone could ask for...) I also feel like I would be willing to help anyone else who feels the same way I do.

Until the next time... Errbody dougie, Err, Errbody dougie

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Not to brag but...

I just wanted to say that I was able to go to the doctor unexpectedly!

Why would I be excited by that, you ask? Because I was able to just tell the people at work that I would be late, and guess what, no big deal. Something that would have not been so easy in the retail world.

Just sayin...

Friday, March 4, 2011

Make no mistake, we are clinical....

You know as well as I do that I have had my doubts about our profession. The stories are the same throughout the profession, but today, today was different. I have been looking for ways to assert myself in my new job. I have volunteered to head up the investigational medication process; showed interest in learning how to manage VTE patients; and have just considered many other ways to take on more responsibility, while planning on how to get started. All that being said, I have still mostly been doing order verification. Until today...

Our ID physician is not with us at the moment, and we were given a heads up about this toward the end of the day. Basically we were told that we need to be proactive in antibiotic stewardship, of course I got excited and was looking forward to this opportunity. Little did I know that 2 hours later one of the physician's nurses would be calling for a consult. I don't know that I was completely ready, but I tried to handle it professionally with out freaking out.

I say freaking out, because it wasn't like they called and said "hey this person has an upper respiratory infection, what is gonna be the best option." Instead, this person had a UTI consisting of a postive culture for pseudomonas, that was none-the-less resistant to everything but gentamicin and tobra. This caused my mind to race. All of the red flags and warnings popped into my head about ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity, and the six step dose adjustments, so I had to tell the nurse that I would get back with her.

The other pharmacist and I put our heads together, gathered the information, and made our recommendation. Which I feel is pretty sound. Pretty exciting actually. So, today, I feel like a Doctor of Pharmacy.

Soooooo, In your face old friend who always trying to belittle me even though I went to school for a long time and I try to be cool with you everytime I hang out, but you still want to prove your better than me for some reason.

----- Sorry, had to get that out there.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

The new link.

Please check out the new link on the top right side of the screen. It is my mother-in-law's new book. I just thought I would try to help her out. It is a children's book that would be good for any girl that thinks she is a princess. She wrote it for my niece when she was the flower girl in our wedding. It calmed her nerves and she did an awesome job, because she knew that she was the "Princess of the Bride." Then my mother-in-law decided to get it published. Anyway have a look, and again, thanks for reading.

PS: you can google it and order it fom sites like Amazon as well!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I think I have a hunch...

I think I found the reason for the rift between departments in my particular location. Some of the pharmacists find anyway to create the least amount of work possible. So when people call and ask for help, they defer them to anyone else they can. I can see the pharmacists' point in a way though. They think that if the task is something that the other staff can do themselves, they should learn how. Things like order entry and dealing with the automated fill machines. However, I can see the other side as well. If I had a question about the nursing process, I would call a nurse. So, when they have a pharmacy question, they call the pharmacy.

It probably wouldn't be so bad (in my eyes)if the other pharmacists were had the same point of view, but they don't. They (and I) would rather help in most ways that we can. Although this way of thinking would make the situation better for me, I dont think that it would close the divide between the departments (more speciically - the rest of the hospital and the pharmacy). I think that it would take a lot more to fix the damage done.