8 hours of drugs

i promised yesterday that i'd write about my new job. but i realized today that there's not that much interesting about what i do. pharmacists and pharmacy techs make the drugs, put labels on them and put them on the rack. i then take them to the floor where the nurse and patient are waiting. sometimes, the nurses are overjoyed to see me with their narcotics. sometimes, they're just pissed it took so long to get through the process. but usually, i just leave the meds on the table and leave without being noticed by anyone. other than the pregnancy pandemic (there must be a dozen women "great with child" in the pharmacy alone! i'm thinking i should stick with the bottled water) and the complete lack of phone service in the dungeon that they call the pharmacy, it's not a bad job to get me through school. and, because i'm all over the hospital all day, i see a little bit of a lot of what happens. for example:

there was a code on one of the floors. i've never seen so many people crammed into such a small room. they just needed big clown hair and red noses and a phone booth. i heard the person pulled through.

the ped icu's are the most difficult. today, on the same floor, there were two families praying for an injured child. it was heartbreaking.

at the end of the shift i was headed up to the ped inpatient floor with a bunch of chemo for a kid. as i approached the hall i wanted, this family stopped me and asked if i speak spanish. the five year old son was trying to help me understand what the family wanted, but i just didn't get it. after asking all the nurses on the floor for someone who speaks spanish, and feeling inadequate and useless, i took the chemo to the sick kid's nurse. she was really happy that she could keep her promise to the parent of the sick kid that chemo would start tonight. that's when the girl scout troop showed up to sing christmas carols and had out gifts to the kids. i about started crying in the middle of the chaos.

i met a guy from bosnia who works in food service. he's been here about 8 years, he came here right after the war.

more later ...

Friday, December 15, 2006