Pharmacist - Learn to swim when you're thrown into the ocean

As a pharmacist, my main priority is to ensure that the patient rteceives the best pharmaceutical treatment possible. Yes, the doctors are the prescribers but don't forget, that behind every successful doctor, there is a pharmacist. We may not get as much credit as doctors do, but really, our pharmaceutical knowledge, no doctors can beat. That's the truth.

I've just started working for 3 weeks. Everyday has its own challenge. Like today, I thought my main challenge was charging the prescriptions into the system.. it is a challenge when you watch your colleagues do 5 times faster than you. it is a challenge when your colleagues patiently wait for you to charge and not complain even a bit. it is a challenge every time you do a mistake and having to re-charge into the system. it is an even greater challenge to read certain doctors' handwritings. so please to all you future doctors, do not burden us with your handwriting

I think i have quite a nice group of colleagues. yes, some may not be as warm and nice as I expected, but i guess majority matters most. One thing about working in a hospital with many staff is that : 

1. you have to meet with patient's expectation

2. you have to meet with your colleagues and other medical staff's expectations

3. and i think for me the most challenging part is meeting with my own expectation

On daily basis, errors in prescriptions and dispensing are really common. for me, it's even annoying whenever  i see myself making errors and thankfully my colleagues are not the type to scold menjerit2 and what not. I suppose, everyone makes mistakes and just have to learn from it. 

but I guess as someone who just started, it's a learning process and throughout the learning process, shit happens. ok, no major shit happened so far, so fingers crossed. i'm glad that i haven't got scolded by a patient. that is one of my biggest fears. I guess it doesn't matter how much your colleagues scold you, but once a patient scolds you, that will hit you hard.

By the way, apparently today SDMC was super busy because the occupancy was up to 97%. And plus, many staff were on leave so it is even harder to ensure that patients get their medications as fast as possible. a staff actually had to wait for 3-4 hours to meet a doctor. surely they do not want to wait any longer for their medications. sorry patients, if only SDMC has the electronic prescribing. it would be easier for all of us.

Ezan Alia

One of the many things that I am grateful to God is the bunch of friends He has sent to me all these years. I may not appreciate the relationships I had in life, but I think that is compensated by having such amazing companions.

A great friend is someone you share your happiness and sadness with at all times. like my best friend Shera always says, "through thick and thin". Last weekend, one of my closest friends, Ezan Alia got married. It was exciting for me and my other girlfriends coz she was the first but the youngest amongst us to get married. 

Ezan and I knew each other since KTJ. I was her senior by one year and we were in the same house, Irinah. I knew Ezan since she was 15 and it was interesting to witness her growing up and change into a woman throughout these years. One thing that I never stopped saying to Ezan til now is, "I'm so proud of you". It's amazing to see a person to be able to withstand all the challenges in life and yet, still come out smiling and strong as ever. Ezan is the epitomy of beauty inside out.

I treat Ezan like she's my own little sister. For the past two years, we shared about each other's lives like we never did when we were in KTJ, hence why I felt some sort of an attachment to this girl. On the day of her solemnization, I couldn't stop tearing up from the moment we sat down after bringing the dulangs in til the solemnization completed. I was shocked myself, but I guess it was because I witnessed such a beautiful ceremony and of course I was so happy that she found someone in such a short time but I could see such a great love between them. On that day, I understood the meaning of true love.

So our baby girl Ezan got married, leaving four of us (we call ourselves the attap girls). I wish her all the happiness in the world. I'm so glad that she found someone who can take a good care of her and who loves more than anything in the world. Alhamdulillah. we're gonna miss Ezan in our joyah sessions, of course she may not be able to join all the sessions but I'm sure once in a while her husband doesn't mind heheheh. 

Congrats Ezan Alia! you know i love you! =)

p/s: sorry this post is a week late.

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.

The Twilight Saga - Why people are crazy over it

I was never a fan of the Twilight Saga.

When watched the 1st and 2nd movies of this saga, I was annoyed.

I couldn't understand the craze over Kristen Stewart's dead acting. Or even Rob Pattinson's so-called charming character. Or even the oh-so-hot Taylor Lautner.

I certainly thought it was overrated, cheap hopeless romantic kinda movie. 

But... there was a love-hate relationship. I hated the acting and the storyline, though I find myself to be there at the cinema whenever a new Twilight movie is out. 

I started to enjoy the whole story a little bit when I watched Eclipse. I guess I liked the whole vampire-werewolf war thing going on. And then Breaking Dawn Part 1 came out. Minus the excessive highlight of intense but awesome vampire-human sex scenes, I actually thought the storyline was pretty impressive.

And watching the final movie today, I finally understood the whole obsession over this story. It's not particularly about the characters alone. More about the whole love story. Kinda gave us a tinge of hope to cling to whenever we're involved in a "forbidden love".LOL. That, was what I could gather. And it's even worse when you teared up watching flashbacks of the love story. ah dammit. 

Ok moving on to the rating. Personally I would give it a 8/10. The twist was unexpectable. I thought the acting improved and was more believable. I grew to like Bella the vampire. I guess I'm just drawn to strong women and not the hopeless and helpless women like she used to be when she was a human. Vampires are the living dead creatures but Bella seemed so alive. The whole movie seems to make even more sense. Believe me, I am a huge vampire fan since I was young. I grew up with vampire films. This may not be the best vampire movie, but it was good enough. Of course the excessive lovey dovey scenes were to me, a bit over the top, but somehow I got used to it already. Probably not as bad as the previous ones. 

So there you go. Goodbye Twilight Saga!

VAMPIRE DIARIES FOR THE WIN!

Fresh grad's Major Dilemma

Good news: I will be ending my unemployed life in less than 2 weeks! Well, I have been waiting for this for quite some time already, but you know being a human, we just get terribly anxious that we want something to happen fast. but when we get it, we get scared. coz reality just hits you. in the face.

As I have mentioned earlier, I had applied to both government and private hospitals. Not to mention, a job offer in Singapore that I had to turn down due to personal reasons. Also, I uploaded my CV on Jobstreet. Actually just for the thrill of it. And I actually did get one pharmaceutical company and a retail pharmacy that offered me job interviews. I turned them down since my main aim is to gain clinical experience in hospital first. 

Alhamdulillah. Pharmacists are highly demanded in Malaysia. And pharmacy in Malaysia is definitely growing and heading the right direction - people are actually recognising the importance of pharmacists and our role in healthcare. Slowly, and hopefully in the near future, pharmacists will be given the same respect as given to the doctors, which is the case in developed coutries such as U.S.A and U.K.

So referring to the oh-so-dramatic title, I actually received two job offers at the same time, which are from Sime Darby Medical Centre in Subang Jaya and also from government. Now the "fun" part was when I found out that government (KKM) has decided to send me to Johor. And even more "fun" to find out that gov is paying me higher than SDMC. Excuse for me being so money-minded, but salary is one of the major factors I look at. 

So for these past few days, I have been torn. Initially, I decided to go for SDMC because I want to be close to home. I'm not being a spoilt brat, but really I have been away from home since the tender age of 16 til just before I turned 23. But, govt hosp will be a valuable experience.

So I had to list out both pros and cons of both job offers. To be honest, both are offering a good start in my career. though, a start in gov hosp would give me a greater exposure to the world of clinical pharmacy. in terms of location, SDMC wins hands down. and in terms of saving, I would probably save more money living with family. there are factors such as rents,bills, and groceries etc which I have to consider if moving to Johor. 

It was a tough choice indeed. but considering my 5-year career plan that I have planned, I decided to stick to SDMC. The training is just the same between gov and private hosps. We will be exposed to the same disciplines in hospital pharmacy. but of course, cases in govt hospitals would be more interesting. but guess what? when I work in SDMC, there will be times when I have to go to govt hospital to complete my rotations. you must be wondering what kinda rotations. well, once i start working, I will update this blog more on working as a pharmacist. afterall, the main goals for my first year of working are to pass my pharmacy board exam and complete the logbook and ensuring atleast 60% mark for each rotation.

Some of you may still be wondering, errr... what? Let's put it this way. In a nutshell, 1st year working as a pharmacist is not entirely working. It's like housemanship for doctors. As fresh grad pharmacists, we are known as provisionally registered pharmacists. and once we've passed all of the above after a year's training, we get to be fully registered pharmacists. Once we're fully registered pharmacists, career opportunities will be crazy, locally or even in the foreign countries. Crazy as in there are different types of disciplines that we can choose to pursue - be it hospital, industrial, retail, research/PHD, and even academic.

So that's it from me. Hope everyone is doing well. *Hugs*

Salam Maal Hijrah

Salam Maal Hijrah everyone!

It's a brand new year for us Muslims. 

For whatever that has happened in the past, let bygones be bygones.

We should look forward to a new year, with enthusiasm, hoping for a better year and of course to become a better person than the person you were last year.

I may not be the best Muslimah in the world, but I think every new year,one of the resolutions should be to become a better Muslim. Your definition of "better Muslim" may be different from mine. Regardless, as long as we're heading towards the same direction, we're all doing good deed there right?

Yes, physically I don't look like a Muslimah. I'm weak in that department (please don't judge), but whatever it is, I try my best not to neglect my daily prayers, besides remembering Allah during good and bad times. Bersyukur (grateful to Allah), is one thing that we sometimes forget. everyday is a blessing, and regardless how bad your life is, there's always a blessing in disguise.

Whoever you are, whatever you do, no matter how successful or big you or even your parents are, don't forget, that all that came from Allah. and we must remember, He can give easily, and He can also take it away in just a blink of an eye.

TGFAY! 

(Thank God for another year)

From Uni to Working Life

Today I finally got to meet up with two of my closest friends from Manchester, Nadia and Sue Jinn. It is ridiculous how much we get to see each other back in Malaysia. RIDICULOUS!!! Back in those days, Nadia and I were housemates for 2 years. Sue Jinn and I became close ever since we worked together in MSSM and somehow we got even closer after MSSM. And now since coming back to Malaysia, even meeting up once a month is hard!

I MISS MY GIRLS!

Since both of them have started working and me still unemployed, I decided to go as far as KLCC just to see them. Plus, it's Friday so their lunch break was up to 2+ hours. 

I have been so eager to start working for over 2 months now. I am not the type who enjoy doing nothing for a long period of time. But after listening to these girls talking about their working life, it is kinda scary, how it really is. Nadia comes back around 10 or 11pm every night. If she's lucky, she can leave at 8 or 9pm. Sue Jinn's working life is not as crazy but the fact that it takes an hour to travel to and from her working place, now that's super tiring then anything else.with the traffic and all, and plus waking up early in the morning. *damn please don't get HKL or Ampang Hospital*

In conclusion, as much as I am super eager to start working and earn my own money, I have to be mentally ready for EVERYTHING.I guess patience and determination will help me go through the obstacles. It ain't uni anymore. Coz uni somehow was a bit like finding a person's true identity and that's when everyone comes  out of their shells and learn to mature. Working life will be so much different.

Anyways, still no update on whereabouts am I gonna work. I'm waiting for a letter from KKM and also an email from SDMC. If both of them come at the same time, I will have to choose. I've been thinking a lot, both have their pros and cons. But I guess the main determining factors are salary and location. 

I know this sounds super silly and if my sis Dian finds out about this, she would literally shout at me. It's a well known fact that I watch various tv series online every week. THANK GOD FOR MAXIS FIBRE INTERNET! super fast internet so my weekly schedule is as follow:

Monday: Once Upon a Time

Tuesday: Gossip Girl, 90210, The Voice

Wednesday: The Voice, Pretty Little Liars

Friday: Vampire Diaries, Grey's Anatomy

Saturday: America's Next Top Model

Recently, I finished watching Game of Thrones and Keeping up with the Kardashians.

BUT, as unproductive as it seems, I have been reading blogs by fellow Malaysian pharmacists, just to prepare myself on what's coming. Dian said, TV is a stupid box that makes you even more stupid sometimes. So, I have to even out this stupidity by reading more pharmacy-related stuff.

Updates soon.