First week of PRP training in SDMC

Hey guys, I know a lot of people has been asking me about work as provisionally registered pharmacist in SDMC. I shall give an overview of the pharmacy department and which rotation i'm currently at.

As you all know, SDMC is one of the most well-established private hospitals in the country. So, I felt it is a privilege to be part of the SDMC healthcare professionals. As for the pharmacy department, it is surprisingly HUGE! like the government hospital to be exact. I'm currently posted at the outpatient pharmacy at the ground floor. there are also satellite pharmacies as well at each floor in the outpatient building, but this does not mean that the ground floor is not busy! may be less hectic, but between 11am to 2pm, prescriptions  come in non-stop. on average, the ground floor OP pharmacy dispenses over 800 items a day. and that's just at the ground floor. sometimes, if the satellite pharmacies don't have stock for certain items, they have to send the patients to ground floor to get their medications. owh ya, not forgetting inpatient pharmacy in the other building,CDR, store. all those are in the pharmacy department as well.

The hospital also has a very extensive medication formulary i.e the list of medications available for dispensing.    most of the medications there are branded products i.e  EXPENSIVE products and not generic.so during my first week, it was important to familiarise myself with the different types of medications available there. 

In terms of colleagues, I think most of them are nice and friendly. there were 3 other new pharmacists who came in to join the department. So I was not alone.

First week was all about familiarising and understanding the work flow. there is an added pressure working in a private hospital compared to working in government hospital, in terms of cost and efficiency. As I mentioned, most of the medications in the pharmacy are branded items. Private hospital patients are brand conscious when it comes to their medications, hence why they're willing to pay so much for their treatment. they're willing to pay rm100 for a branded antihypertensive agent, when they can easily get an equivalent but generic product which cost much much less than what they're paying. in terms of efficiency, working in a private hospital means that you have to meet with the patients' expectations. medication errors happened and lead to lawsuits. So double checking prescriptions is really important. And must keep in mind - a simple error (not life-threatening) may lead to a lawsuit.

I'm working from 9am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. Quite tiring but at the end of the day, as long as you enjoy what you're doing, any obstacle can be overcome easily. Be prepared to get scolded etc, coz you are there to work and serve the patients. the main goal is to give the best possible treatment to the patients. afterall, they invested hundreds or even thousands for their hospital visits. surely, if I'm a patient, I would want to be treated well.