Salmon Creek Legacy Hospital – Uw Personal Statement
As I walked into Salmon Creek Legacy Hospital I felt my heart racing. The direction signs were unhelpful as I wandered aimlessly like a lost bird, anxiously trying to look for the inpatient pharmacy, but the hospital was huge. I was lost. Finally, I arrived at the pharmacy upon crossing the sky bridge. My heart was racing faster every second as I entered the pharmacy. I will not forget the feelings that overwhelmed me. That was the first day I began my career as a pharmacy technician student.
In the summer of 2011, I spent about 20 hours per week for 8 weeks at the pharmacy serving the role of a pharmacy technician under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist. On top of the 20 hours, I was taking 17 credits of pharmacy related coursework, including pharmacy law, calculations, seminar, and pharmacology. While at the hospital, I practiced performing both sterile and non-sterile drug compounding. It was very challenging to practice the proper aseptic techniques when compounding, but I really enjoyed it. I also learned how to operate an automated dispensing system for decentralized medication management, such as refilling a particular medication or removing expired or unused controlled substances and operating the C-II safe. After spending 8 weeks at the hospital, I had a pretty good grasp of what a typical day is like working at the inpatient pharmacy.
Upon finishing my hours at the hospital, I started my next externship at Wal-green pharmacy. I spent about 16 hours per week there for 10 weeks. The experience I had at the retail pharmacy was much different. The primary focus for a typical retail pharmacy is mostly customer-oriented. The daily duties of a technician consist of prescriptions handling, data entries of patients’ information into the computer system, insurance and billing, and other non-discretionary tasks.
I learned different duties that were performed by the pharmacists and technicians at two different settings. I was amazed at how different an inpatient pharmacy functions compared to the retail pharmacies we see every day at our local Wal-green or Safeway. My experience at both settings was very challenging, but immensely rewarding at the end. I remembered working with a patient who barely spoke any English at the retail pharmacy. We did not have any Spanish-speaking personnel on staff, nor did the patient obtain an interpreter. As a result, it caused a language barrier. Fortunately, we were able to reprint the prescription label in Spanish and we were able to communicate by using symbols and writings on a piece of paper. I learned that language barriers may ultimately compromise the quality of care and may even cause medical errors that can lead to potential complications. I realized how important it is to have cultural diversity in pharmacy; it is essential that we ensure our patients are cultural competent and that their quality of health care outcomes are not affected by cultural differences. I am thankful