A Welcome Break In the Slaughter
My third rotation was arguably one of my favorites and one of the rotations that did the most towards deciding where I want to go with my pharmacy career. My time during this one was spent in a compounding pharmacy down in Lincoln, about an hour's drive away. Thankfully the timing of this was good, it ran from mid-August until mid-September so at least there were few worries about the roads being good, other than issues arising from construction. The long drive to an from was, thankfully, the only downside to this particular site.
This rotation could not have come at a better time. Another rotation like the two I had just endured might have been the coup de grace for me. I was also forced to confront an issue that had been a point of issue since June. My work schedule kept me on my Wednesdays and every other weekend. With full weeks, what that amounted to was working for 12 days with only 2 off every two weeks. With projects required during the "free" time of evenings and weekends, it had been an insane schedule to keep pace with even as it stood. My call prior to the first rotation calling me to duty on occasional Fridays was most unwelcome. In keeping with the sense of duty I have carried with me, when my protestations came to naught, I resolved myself to do the best I could. It was not easy and there was one occasion where I had thought that I was not scheduled to work a Friday when I actually was. This was one weekend where I was not scheduled to work any other days and I did not find out until I was about 30 miles south of Sioux Falls, even had I wanted to turn back, there was no way I would have made it back. It did not sit well with me, that's not the kind of person that I am. But another thing is that my time to go home was something I considered sacrosanct. It may very well have been one of the few things that kept me from going under during those first two rotations. And it brought the latest round of problems with my manager Diane to a head.
Things with Diane had come full circle. I must confess there were times when I did not particularly enjoy service under her at the beginning, but grew to accept things more and even like her better. Part of it to was probably associated with my becoming more polished as a pharmacy intern. But two things were starting to make things more contentious towards the end. One disturbing trend was the degree to which some of the people were being driven off by her, which added to the pressure to those remaining staff, myself included. The second, of course, was my already oft mentioned strain under the added pressure. It might not have been so bad had my efforts not been dismissed. I would have responded better to the confession that there were staff problems and more effort was needed, rather than the simple comment "rotations aren't that hard". By the time of my third rotation I had mentioned my troubles at least twice and had no response. At this point I was preparing to give an ultimatum, either reduce my hours or replace me altogether. But then something very extraordinary happened.
While I was getting up the nerve to throw down the gauntlet, I came to find out she had changed stores and was going to manage another branch. Suddenly the lack of effort that I had noticed towards resolving the grievous shortage of people made sense; she was a short timer. That was the final straw in my book as far as level of respect. Just simply washing your hands of a problem because you're about to pass it to the next person is a lackluster method of management and it left a lot of us in the lurch. So my efforts towards making a change got pushed back a little. I'm not the kind of person who'll lay that kind of burden on someone new to the job.
It was a lot of fun compounding. Basically my job became doing all of the stuff that needed to be prepared. Most of my work involved creams and suspensions and capsules. The capsules were my primary responsibility in the beginning because they're a difficult thing to get the ropes of. It took me back to the days of chemistry lab, so it was a lot of fun in that respect. Some of the things were fairly complex to make. I remember a suspension of spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide (two different diuretics to lower blood pressure by helping the body remove water for those who aren't in the business and to save the curious the trip to WebMD or Wikipedia). In addition to the actual medications, I think there were at least seven different ingredients in the suspension.
Another major benefit to this location was working with a group of wonderful people. The techs there Jenn and Michelle were awesome to be around. It was a little surprising at first, but it didn't take too long for my guard to come down. Thanks to my quick wit I'm probably one of the few interns that was able to sand toe to toe with the two of them. One thing I will definitely point out is that its a rare pleasure to be in a work environment where there is such a singularly positive chemistry between coworkers. At the VA most definitely and also at Wal-Mart to a lesser extent, but much less so now that Diane is gone, there were always some tension primarily revolving around certain individuals. This was one of the few places where that tension was never felt. Along with the fact that they are thoroughly competent as technicians, if I ever did manage to get my own pharmacy (a dream that is somewhat improbable given the current climate) they would be near the top amongst the list of people I have worked with who I would recruit. There were many good times during those five weeks, too short a time to make that happen.
One good memory of my time was one of the days where Jenn and I got into a debate about rings. She was expecting me to get one for her and wanting the full price one would pay for a wedding ring. It was quite the fearsome debate with me stalwartly holding the line. Of course it was all in pure humor, she's married and I doubt that that's a state that I will achieve anytime soon if ever. She would also casually retort with "Whatever" to a lot of my comments. Michelle would do that too, prompting an informal competition between the two to see who would say it the most. I think Jenn won every single day.
The preceptor on this site was Scott Tran. I had heard of a few people that had learned more about the various hormone replacement regimens worked, but it was not a requirement. I elected not to go that route, a decision I have regretted at times. But I was perfectly happy with a more casual quiet rotation in the wake of the horrors of the first two. It was a much needed chance to rest my mind and psyche and recover to the point where I could start to do some good again. I was also aware of the fact that while I only had obligations during the eight hours of time there, I had an additional two dedicated solely to transit. So the days were still fairly long.
There were a few rough moments on the transit. The second day there was a storm and visibility was reduced somewhat. As I was going along, there were several boards across the road. I managed to dodge the first one but ran over the second one. Thankfully there were no nails, but at highway speeds, that proved to be a problem. My car started violently fishtailing which quickly turned into complete spinning. I honestly thought that it was not going to end very well. It was particularly bad when it stopped briefly with me facing the other way and I saw the traffic behind me. But a spin or two more and then it was done. I survived and, even more amazingly, there was not so much as a scratch on my vehicle. There was also one time that I drove home through a massive thunderstorm with a lot of wind and rain that almost obscured the road completely, the best guide at times was the taillights.
Five weeks seems like a long time, but it doesn't take too long to burn through it. For the first time, it was a five week block that I was sorry to see over with. It definitely brought compounding to the forefront of my interests as an area I would like to get into. Hopefully the next months to come will either see me find my spot there immediately or at least lead me to a place where that could be in the near future.
This rotation could not have come at a better time. Another rotation like the two I had just endured might have been the coup de grace for me. I was also forced to confront an issue that had been a point of issue since June. My work schedule kept me on my Wednesdays and every other weekend. With full weeks, what that amounted to was working for 12 days with only 2 off every two weeks. With projects required during the "free" time of evenings and weekends, it had been an insane schedule to keep pace with even as it stood. My call prior to the first rotation calling me to duty on occasional Fridays was most unwelcome. In keeping with the sense of duty I have carried with me, when my protestations came to naught, I resolved myself to do the best I could. It was not easy and there was one occasion where I had thought that I was not scheduled to work a Friday when I actually was. This was one weekend where I was not scheduled to work any other days and I did not find out until I was about 30 miles south of Sioux Falls, even had I wanted to turn back, there was no way I would have made it back. It did not sit well with me, that's not the kind of person that I am. But another thing is that my time to go home was something I considered sacrosanct. It may very well have been one of the few things that kept me from going under during those first two rotations. And it brought the latest round of problems with my manager Diane to a head.
Things with Diane had come full circle. I must confess there were times when I did not particularly enjoy service under her at the beginning, but grew to accept things more and even like her better. Part of it to was probably associated with my becoming more polished as a pharmacy intern. But two things were starting to make things more contentious towards the end. One disturbing trend was the degree to which some of the people were being driven off by her, which added to the pressure to those remaining staff, myself included. The second, of course, was my already oft mentioned strain under the added pressure. It might not have been so bad had my efforts not been dismissed. I would have responded better to the confession that there were staff problems and more effort was needed, rather than the simple comment "rotations aren't that hard". By the time of my third rotation I had mentioned my troubles at least twice and had no response. At this point I was preparing to give an ultimatum, either reduce my hours or replace me altogether. But then something very extraordinary happened.
While I was getting up the nerve to throw down the gauntlet, I came to find out she had changed stores and was going to manage another branch. Suddenly the lack of effort that I had noticed towards resolving the grievous shortage of people made sense; she was a short timer. That was the final straw in my book as far as level of respect. Just simply washing your hands of a problem because you're about to pass it to the next person is a lackluster method of management and it left a lot of us in the lurch. So my efforts towards making a change got pushed back a little. I'm not the kind of person who'll lay that kind of burden on someone new to the job.
It was a lot of fun compounding. Basically my job became doing all of the stuff that needed to be prepared. Most of my work involved creams and suspensions and capsules. The capsules were my primary responsibility in the beginning because they're a difficult thing to get the ropes of. It took me back to the days of chemistry lab, so it was a lot of fun in that respect. Some of the things were fairly complex to make. I remember a suspension of spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide (two different diuretics to lower blood pressure by helping the body remove water for those who aren't in the business and to save the curious the trip to WebMD or Wikipedia). In addition to the actual medications, I think there were at least seven different ingredients in the suspension.
Another major benefit to this location was working with a group of wonderful people. The techs there Jenn and Michelle were awesome to be around. It was a little surprising at first, but it didn't take too long for my guard to come down. Thanks to my quick wit I'm probably one of the few interns that was able to sand toe to toe with the two of them. One thing I will definitely point out is that its a rare pleasure to be in a work environment where there is such a singularly positive chemistry between coworkers. At the VA most definitely and also at Wal-Mart to a lesser extent, but much less so now that Diane is gone, there were always some tension primarily revolving around certain individuals. This was one of the few places where that tension was never felt. Along with the fact that they are thoroughly competent as technicians, if I ever did manage to get my own pharmacy (a dream that is somewhat improbable given the current climate) they would be near the top amongst the list of people I have worked with who I would recruit. There were many good times during those five weeks, too short a time to make that happen.
One good memory of my time was one of the days where Jenn and I got into a debate about rings. She was expecting me to get one for her and wanting the full price one would pay for a wedding ring. It was quite the fearsome debate with me stalwartly holding the line. Of course it was all in pure humor, she's married and I doubt that that's a state that I will achieve anytime soon if ever. She would also casually retort with "Whatever" to a lot of my comments. Michelle would do that too, prompting an informal competition between the two to see who would say it the most. I think Jenn won every single day.
The preceptor on this site was Scott Tran. I had heard of a few people that had learned more about the various hormone replacement regimens worked, but it was not a requirement. I elected not to go that route, a decision I have regretted at times. But I was perfectly happy with a more casual quiet rotation in the wake of the horrors of the first two. It was a much needed chance to rest my mind and psyche and recover to the point where I could start to do some good again. I was also aware of the fact that while I only had obligations during the eight hours of time there, I had an additional two dedicated solely to transit. So the days were still fairly long.
There were a few rough moments on the transit. The second day there was a storm and visibility was reduced somewhat. As I was going along, there were several boards across the road. I managed to dodge the first one but ran over the second one. Thankfully there were no nails, but at highway speeds, that proved to be a problem. My car started violently fishtailing which quickly turned into complete spinning. I honestly thought that it was not going to end very well. It was particularly bad when it stopped briefly with me facing the other way and I saw the traffic behind me. But a spin or two more and then it was done. I survived and, even more amazingly, there was not so much as a scratch on my vehicle. There was also one time that I drove home through a massive thunderstorm with a lot of wind and rain that almost obscured the road completely, the best guide at times was the taillights.
Five weeks seems like a long time, but it doesn't take too long to burn through it. For the first time, it was a five week block that I was sorry to see over with. It definitely brought compounding to the forefront of my interests as an area I would like to get into. Hopefully the next months to come will either see me find my spot there immediately or at least lead me to a place where that could be in the near future.