Several Short Stories

Let's get this blog back up to date with a few short stories!

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We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!

It was actually the first time I had been involved in a Trade Me auction and I must say it was quite exciting, if not a little frustrating, especially when you've got someone who's on Auto-Bid! We managed to outbid them in the end and still stay below our limit.

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I had this Pharmacy Communications Workshop which was on dealing with difficult patients. I was paired with this guy who's a mature student and likes to... how should I put this... thoroughly critique others. So we did some roleplay where I was the pharmacist and he was a patient wanting some sleeping pills. According to my piece of paper I had to explore further into the patient's feelings, but as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong and I proceeded to sell him sleeping pills. It turned out his mum had just died, and I'm supposed to figure that out?! The guy told me I smiled too much, but it's a little hard not to especially when you know it's not real and everyone else is taking it pretty seriously!

The next roleplay was me being the pharmacist (again oh yay...) and my partner being some drug-seeker. When I heard this I started cracking up laughing, which you could say is a little immature but hey. That's when my partner told me I should work with kids at Starship Hospital or something!

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My pharmacy placement was on the same day my parents and Hamish left for Christchurch. I was placed in this pharmacy out in the wopwops of West Auckland. I came dressed up and everything only to discover it was being run by several middle-aged women. I was the only guy in the pharmacy!

There wasn't much to do in the pharmacy besides completing my workbook, which I did by midday. They gave me a few tasks such as checking off new stock against the invoice, putting them on the shelves, doing medico packs (those little packs that elderlies get which help them figure out which pills to take with each meal), and eventually when there was nothing else to do, a stock-take of how many pills they had in the dispensory. Yes...PILLS!

One of the ladies looked through the pills I had been sorting out for the medico packs when I went over to the other side to check something, and when she found I put in the wrong pill (exactly the same drug, same strength, just different colour pill) she asked me what colour it was, what colour it should be, as if I was thick! I sorta avoided her from then on!

The owner of the pharmacy, a guy who was supposed to be my supervisor, came in later in the day and was there for a few hours. He was pretty cool, oh and also was this other pharmacy technician who talked to me and helped me out throughout the day. The owner got me to do what was probably the most technical thing I did in the dispensory - pour 200mL of paracetamol into two bottles each. I can say I fortunately didn't screw that up!

Eventually the day ended, as all days do, and I got to go home. I'm not so sure if a day at a community pharmacy affected my motivation level in a positive way though. In all honesty, there were only a few patients in the pharmacy at most at one time. After midday there was hardly anyone who came in. All the pharmacist did was check off prescriptions and double-check everything, no making drugs no compounding nothing. They don't do that that often in the dispensory these days anyway.

I was left thinking - I'm spending four years studying to end up doing something like this?!

But I am appreciative of being given the opportunity to spend a day at a community pharmacy and see what pharmacists actually do though.

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The last few weeks of uni were hectic. We had our second and third lab assessments where we got tested on . I got a PRODUCT FAILED for my second lab assessment despite just passing it percentage-wise, but to be told a product you've dispensed is FAILED doesn't do wonders for your confidence! We had to make a cream for the assessment and I did screw up a calculation afterall..

Fortunately the final assessment which is worth the most didn't go as badly and I managed to get a reasonable mark for that!

I also had a lab test for my MEDSCI pharmacology paper which wasn't too great either but I fortunately managed to pass that. I sometimes feel out of my depth with all this science stuff!

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OK they weren't exactly several short stories but I think I've got things covered!