May BLOG:
For nine months, it was mentorship to research checks and then interviews to practice presentations. Throughout this senior year, many challenging assignments were heading right as if these were bullets, but none has ever hit me. I dodge the difficulties of these assignments and try to go through them, putting all my effort for a success of completion. Finally the end has come and my final presentation had to be one of the most challenging event I ever encounter with. For weeks, I prep myself day and night from my power point, setting plans, and speeches that I almost lost my voice. Overall, I declare within my final presentation to do the best among the rest, to really collide all my knowledge of my topic and my experience in one. At the end...it was a full SUCCESS. I informed everything I wanted to say within my presentation and overall I found it really fun to tell my audience about the difficulties and outcomes of patient compliance in the pharmacy. I felt this project's weight was finally lifted off my shoulder and I was now free to have a full on rest with relaxation. This Senior Project may be difficult to solve at first, but if you take your time and assemble each puzzle piece correctly, then you will see the entire picture clearly.
GOOD LUCK TO THE NEXT SENIOR GENERATION OF IPOLY.
FELLOW CLASS OF 2015, I'LL SEE YOU IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF OUR LIVES :)
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection
My last and final project for Senior year is finally completed. This has to be one of the greatest accomplishments I have ever achieved in my high school life. I am extremely proud on the way I have performed during this presentation through the way I spoke: gaining full control of my voice, my compelling actions through my speech, the adrenaline feelings of confidence, and the speed I took within my talking time, slowly.
(2) Questions to Consider
a. What assessment
would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?
AE P AP CR NC
b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?
AE P AP CR NC
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
(5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
Within these nine months, my endless researches (RC checks) have really educated the values of patient compliance occurring in the pharmacy and how it is effecting throughout the medical field as well as our society. From patient compliance, it lead on to teaching me noncompliant health problems and minor ideas to enforcing compliance to defeat noncompliant issues within patients. Most of my resources are from recently published articles on how new methods are being develop to decrease the rate of noncompliant and to create enforcing compliance more simpler for pharmacist.
Since this senior project pushed me into doing actually working experience. For my Independent Components (1 & 2) I gotten more involve into the medical field as in I got to do patient interactions and got to do actual work. I volunteered at Glendora Grand Nursing Home and was part of the Activity Center for a total of sixty hours services. In these components, I really enjoy patient interactions. I found it fun to help patients to fulfill any requests they may ask from me and it was really exciting for me to bring in the satisfactions for patients within the Activity Center such as bringing in the games they want to play, giving them the snacks or drinks they wanted, and more. Within my volunteering services, I use my knowledge of patient compliance (consulting, enforcing compliance) to develop communication with patients and their requests.
As of now, the senior project have prevented to me take on the path of a pharmacist because after observing months in Del's Pharmacy 1 (mentorship), I have a low interest of being a pharmacist or being part of that field. But I did became a somewhat expertise of patient compliance on ways to improve patients to be more compliant and aware of their medication usages. Patient compliance not only effected within the pharmacy field, but it is bound to effect anywhere in the medical field that has to do with medication usages. With my experience from the nursing home, it had really influence me to take part in the medical field as a professional who deals with more physical interaction with patient services such as nurses, doctors, etc. Unlike pharmacist who deals with patients consulting, medications, and store management, I want to be a professional within the medication field that has to deal with physical patient services like doing check ups on patients and help the patient with any health problems they may be facing and especially to be reliable in all places. More specifically, I want to be someone in the medical field who has the authority to be anywhere, at anytime, and people are relying on me with patient services.
Overall, those are my thoughts of the future after my experience with this entire project. Without this senior project being part of my life, I could have been clueless of what life is in the pharmacy. With my experience in the nursing home activity center, I could get myself a summer internship or more volunteer works in local hospitals around West Covina. After a long year of research and inputting hours, I am grateful for putting this project as one of my greatest accomplishments in my life so far because I am able to use all my experience from the mentorship and the nursing home to open myself to new opportunities in the medical field that involves more of patient interaction.
Title: Blog 23:
Senior Project Reflection
Label: Presentation
Directions: Please answer the following questions, and submit them to the blog.
Due Date: The day after your block presentation by 8:00 A.M.
(1) Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
Label: Presentation
Directions: Please answer the following questions, and submit them to the blog.
Due Date: The day after your block presentation by 8:00 A.M.
(1) Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
My last and final project for Senior year is finally completed. This has to be one of the greatest accomplishments I have ever achieved in my high school life. I am extremely proud on the way I have performed during this presentation through the way I spoke: gaining full control of my voice, my compelling actions through my speech, the adrenaline feelings of confidence, and the speed I took within my talking time, slowly.
By the end of the
year, I wanted to make this final presentation the best among the rest. I
corrected all my flaws and errors that were from my previous presentations.
When the deadline of my senior presentation was getting closer, I practice day
and night on my speeches of what I should be informing and how to gain control
of my voice as within speed as well for volume. I even did a few practice
presentations on a few critics who have given me great feedbacks on what I
should improve. As soon it was my turn to present, I try to remember all
necessary information and keeping control of actions through the body and
voice. I even keep myself thinking to "slow down" because I knew at
this moment that I had an hour and a half to use, so in this case I try to take
advantage of time. However, being on stage today, I have forgotten all about
time. I never bother to look at the clock because I knew I had all the time at
this moment to explain my project precisely to my audience. Thus, I spoke to the
people as if I had all the time in the world to tell them about my entire
life experience of this nine month process. At the end, I gained a
full success and I received great comments from others of the
positivity of my project I have presented.
(2) Questions to Consider
a. What assessment
would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?AE P AP CR NC
b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?
AE P AP CR NC
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
Research,
research, and research as well as interviews, mentorship, and independent
components have all worked for me to create my project informative
towards to my audience. With all the information I had, it build up this confidence inside me that I knew all the research I found was legit, true, and relatable to the people. In my perspective, all my main sources have been a way for me to prove that my facts were correct and creates these information I found on how it relates to society.
Another important factor has to be time which improved my self-performance for my speech. Time was more expanded for this presentation that I knew I have extra time to explain everything I found necessary to tell to my audience. I had many researches and information I found important to mention throughout my lecture, so with the extra time I had taken my time slowly to explain everything.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
What didn't work in my project is the audience's engagement because my hook activity was a bit short. All I did was show a short video on what retail pharmacists have to deal with everyday in the pharmacy, but I notice that not a lot of people have gotten engage through it because it might have been I cut it short unexpectedly. With this low achievement of the audience's attention in the beginning, it created a difficult moment for me to make sure that they were actually being interested or paying attention to my lecture.
If I had a time machine, I would go back to the very beginning of my presentation and try to get the audience's attention by asking them a few questions that would be relatable to within my project. (Ex: Who here experience long waits in the pharmacy? Have anyone complained at a pharmacy?, etc.) After that, I would play them the video, but have it last for more than a minute or two and then ask them of what they have observed. By this change, I could make sure that I have really grabbed the audience attention in the first place without worrying to try to engage them more throughout this lecture.
(5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
Within these nine months, my endless researches (RC checks) have really educated the values of patient compliance occurring in the pharmacy and how it is effecting throughout the medical field as well as our society. From patient compliance, it lead on to teaching me noncompliant health problems and minor ideas to enforcing compliance to defeat noncompliant issues within patients. Most of my resources are from recently published articles on how new methods are being develop to decrease the rate of noncompliant and to create enforcing compliance more simpler for pharmacist.
Since this senior project pushed me into doing actually working experience. For my Independent Components (1 & 2) I gotten more involve into the medical field as in I got to do patient interactions and got to do actual work. I volunteered at Glendora Grand Nursing Home and was part of the Activity Center for a total of sixty hours services. In these components, I really enjoy patient interactions. I found it fun to help patients to fulfill any requests they may ask from me and it was really exciting for me to bring in the satisfactions for patients within the Activity Center such as bringing in the games they want to play, giving them the snacks or drinks they wanted, and more. Within my volunteering services, I use my knowledge of patient compliance (consulting, enforcing compliance) to develop communication with patients and their requests.
As of now, the senior project have prevented to me take on the path of a pharmacist because after observing months in Del's Pharmacy 1 (mentorship), I have a low interest of being a pharmacist or being part of that field. But I did became a somewhat expertise of patient compliance on ways to improve patients to be more compliant and aware of their medication usages. Patient compliance not only effected within the pharmacy field, but it is bound to effect anywhere in the medical field that has to do with medication usages. With my experience from the nursing home, it had really influence me to take part in the medical field as a professional who deals with more physical interaction with patient services such as nurses, doctors, etc. Unlike pharmacist who deals with patients consulting, medications, and store management, I want to be a professional within the medication field that has to deal with physical patient services like doing check ups on patients and help the patient with any health problems they may be facing and especially to be reliable in all places. More specifically, I want to be someone in the medical field who has the authority to be anywhere, at anytime, and people are relying on me with patient services.
Overall, those are my thoughts of the future after my experience with this entire project. Without this senior project being part of my life, I could have been clueless of what life is in the pharmacy. With my experience in the nursing home activity center, I could get myself a summer internship or more volunteer works in local hospitals around West Covina. After a long year of research and inputting hours, I am grateful for putting this project as one of my greatest accomplishments in my life so far because I am able to use all my experience from the mentorship and the nursing home to open myself to new opportunities in the medical field that involves more of patient interaction.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Blog 22: Mentorship
Title: Blog 22: Mentorship
Label: Mentorship
Due Date: Thursday, May 14 by 8AM
Content:
Pharmacy Technician: Feddy
(Another employee who seen me work at the mentorship this entire year)
EQ: What is the key way pharmacist can enforce patient compliance to prevent noncompliant health problems?
*Please do not turn in your mentorship hours to the office. After we collect the total list from all seniors, we will turn in one piece of paper with all hours for everybody. It is counted as 50 hours of the 200 you need in order to graduate from I-Poly. The 10 hours in the summer have already been added to your community service total.
Grading Criteria (May 13th)
Label: Mentorship
Due Date: Thursday, May 14 by 8AM
Content:
LIA Response to blog:
Literal
· Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog
· Contact Name and Mentorship Place:
Place: Del's Pharmacy 1
Phone: (909)-477-6300
Mentor: Nohan Khalaf (Pharmacist)
Pharmacy Technician: Feddy
(Another employee who seen me work at the mentorship this entire year)
Interpretive
What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
The most important experience I gained from my mentorship is the inside knowledge of the process in the pharmacy. In other terms, what goes on in the back of the pharmacy? I learned a lot throughout this year in Del's Pharmacy 1, I learned how to assemble and package a prescribed medication, I learned how to make prescription labels, and the work differences and similarity between pharmacy technician and a pharmacist. It may not be a retail pharmacy, but I describe this closed pharmacy as a full expansion of the back of a retail pharmacy. Usually in the front of a retail pharmacy, there isn't much work to be shown, only consultation, but within the back, there are lots of work to be done.
Seeing visual action of what needs to be done in the pharmacy had really explained to me on the variety of questions I had in the beginning:
- Why do pharmacists get paid so much? (Answer: There is more responsibilities they need to do)
- How hard is it to pack a prescription? (Answer: Not too hard, but double checking is tedious)
- Why are the waits in the pharmacy long? (Answer: prescription preparation and consultation)
- Is there lots of chemistry involved? (Answer: Very little, yet useful once in a while)
My entire perspective of pharmacy field has changed forever and I have full respect of the works of a pharmacist. I hope to share my experience with other people who are interested in the pharmacy field and tell them how the job works for a pharmacists and the skills that are needed. As for people who do not take interest or respect for the field, I want to show them how important the pharmacist job is and the responsibilities they have to do in order to keep us, the patients, safe with our medication usages.
Applied
How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.
EQ: What is the key way pharmacist can enforce patient compliance to prevent noncompliant health problems?
Mentorship had really expanded the ideas of errors and solutions within a pharmacy between the consultation/communication and the function of the store. I took use of my observation to answer and ask the right questions about compliance on how can a pharmacist enforce more. Every time in my mentorship, I was free of trouble to ask my mentor and the other technicians of any questions I found to be curious to ask. Throughout this year, I had five mentors (pharmacists) I worked with and each of them had a different experience in their field of pharmacy. Some of the pharmacists worked over ten years, some owned a pharmacy before, most worked in Egypt, and overall, . I was opened to a variety of information about the pharmacy field that I took interest and use of what I have recently learned. With every pharmacist I met, each one had a different on how to enforce compliance throughout my discussion of my EQ such as the use of handouts, calling the patients, and just taking their time during consultation.
For most of my research checks, I was influence to know more of what I recently learned and seen from the pharmacy and the discussions form my mentor and I which I found curious to check up on. These were ideas I wanted to research more about later on when I did my RC notes such as particular searches about the problem of patient compliance issues within the pharmacy, possible solutions, moderate ideas, and more.
All three of my answers that helped relate to my EQ were all part of my observation within Del's Pharmacy 1.
1. Good Pharmacy Practice:
This answer was influenced from my first mentor, Andrew Kest. He taught me how Good Pharmacy Practice helped improve his work in the pharmacy of knowing the basic roles and guidelines on how to be a Good Pharmacist. These rules basically shows pharmacist on how are the works in the pharmacy and what was requirements must be done within the retail pharmacy. There is even a set of rules on the requirements on how to give a proper consultation which my mentor, Andrew, told me that it helps pharmacists to enforce more compliance to patients. For every other mentor I met along this year, I always ask them first of their experience when they use Good Pharmacy Practice and each one I had a different response and more information on both their experience, thoughts, and Board of Pharmacy logic behind this answer.
2. Patient Portal:
I first found this answer by taking on the interest towards technology usages in the pharmacy. In Del's Pharmacy, their main and most reliable tool all employees are dependent on are the computers. They insert all information within the computers such as patients medication records, pharmacy documents, prescription labels, and other important information. This idea influenced me to search about modern technology within the retail pharmacy. Then I stumbled across patient portal which was something I found new, yet it was too new that all my mentors doesn't know about this website. However, they all found patient portal interesting as I told them what it was about and had their own ideas of its ups and downs.
3. Utilizing Technicians:
I found this answer as one of the most least obvious in my mentorship because the entire pharmacy was filled with technicians working around everywhere. I seen how technicians work and their daily performance every day, especially only having one pharmacist working and six technicians working by my mentor's side does really get the job done fast. At first I didn't found the works of technicians can help pharmacists enforce more compliance if they can't be part of it. But after a few information I found on the use of technicians, there are solutions that indicate that techs can help create more time for pharmacists to focus on consultation with their patients, making sure the patient understands fully of their medication. However, I wasn't sure if this information was legit, so as I went to the pharmacy, I showed my mentor all of the research I found to make sure it was legit and true from their experience. And my mentor did found a few errors, corrected my mistakes, and informed me new information about technicians and pharmacists relationship in between.
This answer was influenced from my first mentor, Andrew Kest. He taught me how Good Pharmacy Practice helped improve his work in the pharmacy of knowing the basic roles and guidelines on how to be a Good Pharmacist. These rules basically shows pharmacist on how are the works in the pharmacy and what was requirements must be done within the retail pharmacy. There is even a set of rules on the requirements on how to give a proper consultation which my mentor, Andrew, told me that it helps pharmacists to enforce more compliance to patients. For every other mentor I met along this year, I always ask them first of their experience when they use Good Pharmacy Practice and each one I had a different response and more information on both their experience, thoughts, and Board of Pharmacy logic behind this answer.
2. Patient Portal:
I first found this answer by taking on the interest towards technology usages in the pharmacy. In Del's Pharmacy, their main and most reliable tool all employees are dependent on are the computers. They insert all information within the computers such as patients medication records, pharmacy documents, prescription labels, and other important information. This idea influenced me to search about modern technology within the retail pharmacy. Then I stumbled across patient portal which was something I found new, yet it was too new that all my mentors doesn't know about this website. However, they all found patient portal interesting as I told them what it was about and had their own ideas of its ups and downs.
3. Utilizing Technicians:
I found this answer as one of the most least obvious in my mentorship because the entire pharmacy was filled with technicians working around everywhere. I seen how technicians work and their daily performance every day, especially only having one pharmacist working and six technicians working by my mentor's side does really get the job done fast. At first I didn't found the works of technicians can help pharmacists enforce more compliance if they can't be part of it. But after a few information I found on the use of technicians, there are solutions that indicate that techs can help create more time for pharmacists to focus on consultation with their patients, making sure the patient understands fully of their medication. However, I wasn't sure if this information was legit, so as I went to the pharmacy, I showed my mentor all of the research I found to make sure it was legit and true from their experience. And my mentor did found a few errors, corrected my mistakes, and informed me new information about technicians and pharmacists relationship in between.
*Please do not turn in your mentorship hours to the office. After we collect the total list from all seniors, we will turn in one piece of paper with all hours for everybody. It is counted as 50 hours of the 200 you need in order to graduate from I-Poly. The 10 hours in the summer have already been added to your community service total.
Grading Criteria (May 13th)
- 50 hours completed (50 from the academic year)
- LIA response (submitted to your blog)
- Essential question connection
Monday, May 4, 2015
Blog 21: Exit Interview
Please be advised. The senior team will not conduct any exit interview in which the student has not turned in a passing research count and completing this blog. In addition, you are expected to dress as you would for a job interview.
Content:
EQ: What is the key way pharmacists can enforce patient compliance to prevent noncompliant health problems?
Answer 1: Common Sense of Good Pharmacy Practice to Pharmacists
Answer 2: Advance use of technology for a more convenient work placement in a patient portal website
Answer 3: Pharmacists creating more time for consultation work by having their technicians work on their minor tasks.
Best Answer: Answer #3: Use of technician's assistances to benefit the pharmacists.
When a pharmacist provides consultation to their patients about the instructions and benefits of their medication, it is difficult to make sure patients got the full understanding. Some patients may be just nodding their head in urge to leave the pharmacy ASAP, some commonly do forget, and some may have a learning disability (slow learning process). Either way, all patients are different. In order to provide proper consultation, the pharmacist should take their time to make sure that patient is fully aware on how to use their prescriptions correctly. Yet what blocks this is that the pharmacist doesn't have all the time within consultation due to the other works they have to do, so the limited time for consultation is 5 minutes or less. But if pharmacists took use for their technicians to work more on their store-related tasks, then it can build up more time for pharmacists to worry less about those work and focus more on consultation able to enforce more compliance.
One of the difficult works in finding my answer 3 is research. It felt impossible on how should I research about, so I started off simple my typing up "pharmacy technicians" in this website "pharmacytime.com (another reliable site). I found tons of articles about pharmacy tech on what they are, who is in charge of them, and I notice one mentioned about expanding the technicians roles within the pharmacy. After gathering these informations, I wanted to make sure that the research I found was legit. Then I texted and email a few of my previous mentors to ask them about the works of a technicians and if they, themselves, take an advance use of the techs assistance. I even brought these questions up as I went to the mentorship with my recent mentor and got a more visual/verbal information from technician's themselves. Overall, I found some of my sources were right and a few wrong, yet it did lead me onto a path for what I must research more about the relationship between techs and pharmacists.
I found my interviews and mentorship as my most reliable sources to use within this project because I gained more visual information from different pharmacists with each of them working from a complete area within the pharmacy field (hospital pharmacy, independent pharmacy, closed pharmacy, chain pharmacy). These were information that was based on experience perspective in the field. However, if these sources are suppose to be based on research count then "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians" By Fred M. Eckel I found to be a reliable source to in visualize if technicians took charge in more store-related work able to benefit the pharmacist to work more on top of their license (main role: EX. consultation, expert of medication). Another RC source I found helpful is an article "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention" By Michael Gaunt. With more technicians working in prescription packaging that it may lower the rate of human errors work. Yet there is possible event an error will occur that is why the only work pharmacists should do during prescription packaging is doing the final check on these packages before giving them to the patients. By having the pharmacist doing less store-related work in the pharmacy, it will give them more time to focus on consultation more able to take their time to make sure patient's understand the welfare of their prescriptions. All of these sources I found were extremely helpful to gain knowledge of what I should know more about and question more of. Between the sources I stated out, I would go for the two research articles as my main sources.
Gaunt, Michael J. "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention." A Pharmacy Technician’s
Role in Medication Error Prevention. N.p., 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2015.http://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2010/January2010/MedicationSafety-0110
Eckel, Fred M. "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians." Http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Expanding-the-Role-of-Pharmacy-Technicians. N.p., 18 July 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response. It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.
Title: Exit InterviewLabel: Exit InterviewDue Date: Thursday, May 7th by 8AM
Please be advised. The senior team will not conduct any exit interview in which the student has not turned in a passing research count and completing this blog. In addition, you are expected to dress as you would for a job interview.
Content:
(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
I found my Answer 3 through previous answers from older Ipoly seniors who did pharmacy as their Senior Project. Most had the health care team as their answer, so I did a few research on that part, but I didn't found it as a helpful answer for pharmacists to enforce compliance because in order to have a health care team in the pharmacy is if that pharmacy is part of a hospital. But then I develop a curiosity on what kind of health team is involve in the pharmacy. Only pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy assistants are all the roles within a retail pharmacy. I did more research about the work and reliability of technicians to the pharmacist because the technician's role within the pharmacy is to be of assistance for the pharmacist at all times and the technician's can do most of store-related work within the pharmacy (more in products management). Even in the mentorship, I got a more visual aspect on how useful and the process of work the technicians and ho they assist for the pharmacist (there is only 1 pharmacist and 6-8 technicians. From then on, I developed the idea of my third answer.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
I found my interviews and mentorship as my most reliable sources to use within this project because I gained more visual information from different pharmacists with each of them working from a complete area within the pharmacy field (hospital pharmacy, independent pharmacy, closed pharmacy, chain pharmacy). These were information that was based on experience perspective in the field. However, if these sources are suppose to be based on research count then "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians" By Fred M. Eckel I found to be a reliable source to in visualize if technicians took charge in more store-related work able to benefit the pharmacist to work more on top of their license (main role: EX. consultation, expert of medication). Another RC source I found helpful is an article "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention" By Michael Gaunt. With more technicians working in prescription packaging that it may lower the rate of human errors work. Yet there is possible event an error will occur that is why the only work pharmacists should do during prescription packaging is doing the final check on these packages before giving them to the patients. By having the pharmacist doing less store-related work in the pharmacy, it will give them more time to focus on consultation more able to take their time to make sure patient's understand the welfare of their prescriptions. All of these sources I found were extremely helpful to gain knowledge of what I should know more about and question more of. Between the sources I stated out, I would go for the two research articles as my main sources.
Gaunt, Michael J. "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention." A Pharmacy Technician’s
Role in Medication Error Prevention. N.p., 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2015.http://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2010/January2010/MedicationSafety-0110
Eckel, Fred M. "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians." Http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Expanding-the-Role-of-Pharmacy-Technicians. N.p., 18 July 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response. It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
April Blog Post:
This month was a real success with the planning of my activity project, which I chose to pick Answer 3 to represent within it. My answer 3, the use of technician's assistants that pharmacists should take use on in order to create more time to focus on consultation with patients while techs work on the pharmacist's minor works of store related responsibilities such as medication, prescription packaging, and other products in the pharmacy. Over all, I hope when I go back to the pharmacy at my mentorship that I am able to use some of their supples for this event in my Senior Project. Now I must prepare for I only have a few weeks to gather everything for this huge presentation :) wish me luck!!!!
This month was a real success with the planning of my activity project, which I chose to pick Answer 3 to represent within it. My answer 3, the use of technician's assistants that pharmacists should take use on in order to create more time to focus on consultation with patients while techs work on the pharmacist's minor works of store related responsibilities such as medication, prescription packaging, and other products in the pharmacy. Over all, I hope when I go back to the pharmacy at my mentorship that I am able to use some of their supples for this event in my Senior Project. Now I must prepare for I only have a few weeks to gather everything for this huge presentation :) wish me luck!!!!
Friday, April 24, 2015
Independent Component Blog
Blog
19: Independent Component 2
Independent Component
Label: Independent Component
Due Date: Friday 4/27 by 8AM
Content:
LITERAL:
(a) Statement saying:
“I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which
represents 30 hours of work.”
Article:
Chen, Pauline W. ʺThe
Choices Patients Make.ʺ The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Oct. 2008.
Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/health/10chen.html?pagewanted=printArticle:
Wick, Jeannette Y.
ʺAdherence Issues in Elderly Patients.ʺ Adherence Issues in Elderly Patients.
N.p., 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. http://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2011/January2011/RxFocus-0111
Article:
Karalis, Nicholas. ʺDay
in the Life: Adherence.ʺ Day in the Life: Adherence. N.p., 22 Mar. 2011. Web.
11 Feb. 2015.(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours). Post it next to your mentorship log.
Independent Component 2
INTERPRETIVE
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work. Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.
After volunteering at
the Activity Center in Glendora Grand Nursing Home, I learned the value of
patient care. The Activity Center is a place where patients can enjoy
themselves, to have fun while their stay in Glendora Grand Nursing Home. The
Activity Center offers many events and small activities that patients may do
within their free time. The way the Activity Center works is that it is a place
where a patients can get away from their caregivers (nurses) and get out of
their rooms once in awhile to maybe stretch and check what the center has to
offer. Yet what makes the work difficult within the Activity Center is the
free-for-all atmosphere for patients who comes in and participates. Whatever
patients needed for the Activity Center, the members have to do their best to
provide what’s best for them.
Our job at the Activity
Center is to make sure patients are enjoying themselves with the events we have
offer to them. Pharmacists provides as much services for the patients that may
assist them with their medication like consultation, handouts (with specific
directions and information about the medication), or organization medication
boxes (to keep track). In the Activity Center, we provide activities patients
may enjoy for themselves during their stay in the nursing home such as nail
polish services, permission to use the Wii, painting or color utensils,
building blocks and more. We even provide savoring snacks for the patients.
Patients are free to ask for whatever they need in the program and we will do
our best to provide them of what they need.
My work is as similar
as the other employees, to monitor patients and setup for activity event. Every
morning there is always a new activity, whether it be drawing, dancing,
exercising, or a movie, patients are always excited to come in. Every afternoon
is always the same routine of Bingo. Seniors in Glendora Grand Nursing Home
loves Bingo that one time they rioted when the Activity Center canceled the
event and replaced it with painting. Usually I come to the nursing home every
weekends at 10am or 11am - 4pm or 5pm or Fridays at 1pm-5pm.
Every Friday is Bingo, my routine is:
1:30pm: Set up for Bingo
2pm-4pm: Bingo Game
● Within this event, I assist a few Seniors who need help physically to play the game (AKA: Stamping the cards and repeating the numbers)
● 2:50pm: Snack Serving, I set up the snacks and pass them around, providing Seniors a healthy eating before the next game at 3pm.
After Bingo, dinner time is already set by 5pm, so at the meantime, everyone is setting up for dinner within a hour. During this time, I set up hot beverages for the Seniors: hot chocolate and coffee. I stand at my post and wait for the Seniors to come up and asked for their request which is a difficult position than it sounds. There is no line or patience these Seniors have. Most of the Seniors come at once, telling me they want hot chocolate and one wants coffee at the same time. Throughout this process, I am multitasking everywhere with the cream, sugar, hot water, etc. But at the end, I succeed my task by 5:30pm and call it a day.
APPLIED
How did the component
help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it
helped.
My Independent
Component taught me the value of patient care and the difficulties to face when
trying to communicate with patients. For these few months working at Glendora
Grand Nursing Home, I got a taste of interacting with noncompliant patients and
it tasted very bitter. All retail pharmacists have interacted with that one
patient who is frustration to communicate with and difficult to consult about
the use and effects of their medication. There are even patients who deny to
have consultation with their pharmacist and at the end, they come back to the
pharmacy to complain about the side effect they gotten from their medication.
In the Activity Center,
we cannot give “everything” to what the patient has requested because there are
a few restricted requests we cannot fulfill for them due to their specific
medical conditions such as patients asking for hot chocolate, sugary treats,
cream with their coffee, paints, Wii, or even crayons due to patients with
uncontrollable arms. It is difficult to not fulfill patient’s request due to
restrictions we must follow from nurses, doctors, and other healthcare
providers’ recommendations. Such as there are times when patient’s demand for
chocolate, like they really demand for it.
It was on a Friday
afternoon, Bingo event was going on and it was time to take a small break and
serve snacks to the patients in the center. As I was passing out cookies and
oranges, an elderly man called out to me and asked me if I could get him hot
chocolate. Since I am a volunteer, I needed official permission to give
patients these treats. When I asked my advisor, she told me that I shouldn’t
give any sweets to that man because he has a diabetes condition. I told the man
that I wasn't allowed to give him hot chocolate and instead suggested to him if
he wants juice. The man kept asking me why I couldn't get him the beverage
he wanted, so I told him the truth that he has a diabetes condition and he
shouldn't eat anything sweet. Then he kept telling me he was allowed to have
sweets because apparently the doctor said he could. I didn't know what to do,
but obviously I didn't believe the man. All I could have done is deny his
request, which I did and apologize that I couldn't fulfill his request. Then
the man started to yell at me, telling me I was a lazy employee and he was
going to get the hot chocolate himself, which he did.
I found that event unexpected, but my supervisor told me
that the fault will be on the man who got the hot chocolate because some
patients do have the authority to do what they request. Some patients have permission
to eat all the sugary treats even though they have a huge condition of
diabetes. My supervisor told me that these types of patients have full fault at
the end of their line.
This is just as similar as a pharmacists as they have
consultation with patients and their benefits with their medication.
Pharmacists cannot force to make their patients change their life style, but
they can do their be to give the right advice and suggestions for patients to
improve their healthy habits. If the patient still doesn't listen, then it will
be the patient's full fault if he or she suffers noncompliant health problems
with the decision he or she has chosen.
My component helped me understand the value of patient care
and the use of other employees. If I didn't asked my supervisor's permission to
serve hot chocolate to the man then I could have gotten in trouble and cause a major problem with the
man's diabetes. But instead, I didn't and the man causes himself to have
problems with his diabetes with the beverage. As the health care provider, you
sometimes cannot fulfill patient's request all the way. The importance of
delivering patient care is doing the best you can to provide the patient with
special need they request they may have. Trying to find another suggestion or
solution to still benefit for the patient's need.
With the use of other employees, it can really help prevent
human error to occur, such we set up for Bingo and clean it up. Usually at the
Activity Center, there is about two people working, but adding a third person
along, AKA me, can make set up and clean up end quickly. As we set up for
Bingo, we are able to set up the game such as passing out materials and
collecting the papers, only takes about a few seconds to finish. In the
pharmacy, technicians were used for of the minor tasks of the pharmacists, then
the pharmacist would have more important work to focus on while technicians
cover up their minor works. Pharmacists can have more time to deliver the
proper consultation to patients and to make sure their patient understand the
purpose of their medication.
Monday, March 30, 2015
March Blog:
I have finally found my best answer for my EQ!!!
ANSWER 3:
"With technicians managing store-related work in the pharmacy, pharmacists can have more time to consult with patients properly."
Pharmacists technicians are the other employees in the pharmacy who takes care of the packaging of medication/prescriptions and stocking of products. These employees' main role is to be of assistance for the pharmacist at all time in the retail store (pharmacy). In the US, there is tons of pharmacists technicians than pharmacists working in the pharmacy field. The work force for the pharmacist make it a lot difficult for them to deal with since they have multiple responsibilities to take care of in the store (e.g. prescriptions fill/refills, phone calls, paperwork, stocking). With tons of workload for the pharmacist, it lacks them from their main role which is being an expert of a variety of drugs and being of assistance for patients' medication-related problems.
Time is what the pharmacist is worry about during consultation with their patient, they do not have enough of it due to their busy schedule. The only way pharmacist can enforce patient compliance is to make sure they have properly deliver that service/advise to their patient and making sure they patient has a full understanding of what their pharmacist had said. It takes time and specific reasoning to develop full understanding from their patient. But how can pharmacist gain more time for consultation?
Well with the help of pharmacist technicians with management of the retail work in the pharmacy, the pharmacist doesn't have to worry as much for other works. The only difference is that technicians are only responsible for product-related works, not interaction/consultation with patients. With technicians running other works for the pharmacist in the store, it will create more time for the pharmacist to practice more on top of their license. (e.g. consultation, checking of prescriptions)
Here is a video for those who wonder what retail pharmacists have to deal with everyday :)
*just for laughs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULnBZ2T7CIg
I have finally found my best answer for my EQ!!!
ANSWER 3:
"With technicians managing store-related work in the pharmacy, pharmacists can have more time to consult with patients properly."
Pharmacists technicians are the other employees in the pharmacy who takes care of the packaging of medication/prescriptions and stocking of products. These employees' main role is to be of assistance for the pharmacist at all time in the retail store (pharmacy). In the US, there is tons of pharmacists technicians than pharmacists working in the pharmacy field. The work force for the pharmacist make it a lot difficult for them to deal with since they have multiple responsibilities to take care of in the store (e.g. prescriptions fill/refills, phone calls, paperwork, stocking). With tons of workload for the pharmacist, it lacks them from their main role which is being an expert of a variety of drugs and being of assistance for patients' medication-related problems.
Time is what the pharmacist is worry about during consultation with their patient, they do not have enough of it due to their busy schedule. The only way pharmacist can enforce patient compliance is to make sure they have properly deliver that service/advise to their patient and making sure they patient has a full understanding of what their pharmacist had said. It takes time and specific reasoning to develop full understanding from their patient. But how can pharmacist gain more time for consultation?
Well with the help of pharmacist technicians with management of the retail work in the pharmacy, the pharmacist doesn't have to worry as much for other works. The only difference is that technicians are only responsible for product-related works, not interaction/consultation with patients. With technicians running other works for the pharmacist in the store, it will create more time for the pharmacist to practice more on top of their license. (e.g. consultation, checking of prescriptions)
Here is a video for those who wonder what retail pharmacists have to deal with everyday :)
*just for laughs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULnBZ2T7CIg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)