August: Extra Blog:

During my summer mentorship, I have plan to settle in Del's Pharmacy 1. My experience in that particular clinic is at an ease area, due to the fact that it's an closed pharmacy. Closed pharmacy are regular pharmacy clinics, except it doesn't involve the interaction with patients or customers. Consider the image of this pharmacy just an expanded version of the back of a regular pharmacy. This clinic involves a larger station for filling new medications, computer stations, and half of the place is surrounded by bottles and boxes of prescriptive drugs. Since I am only a minor, I am unable to do a lot of physical work because I do not have a license for medication or a as a pharmacist technician, yet I am able to explore and ask as many questions I want as my curiosity expands. Since my topic is about patient compliance, it would be challenging to receive my answers of observation within the clinic, but luckily my mentor, Andrew Kest, had experienced that situation because he also works in a regular pharmacy clinic. By Andrew's experience, I am able to have his view of  his response towards patient compliance issue. Another fact was that Andrew is the one who suggested this topic for me because he says it was a issue that relates to everyone. Since I have only been there twice, I wasn't able to take pictures, but my mother has because she goes there to drop off expired medications from other companies. In the right hand corner, there is a picture the labels the pharmacy use for the prescription drugs. As you can see that the information needs to be cleared up for various reasons to prevent the medical information of the patient to be shared with anyone.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation
Label:  Interview
Due Date:  Thursday August 28 by 8AM


Content:

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

For the first interview, I plan to meet with my mentor, Andrew Kest. Andrew is the one who helped me find my topic for the senior project. He is a pharmacist, who had experienced in both close-pharmacy, which doesn't involve patients, and open-pharmacy, which includes the interaction with patients. By his experience of the topic, patient compliance, I am able to have more of his personal opinions, ideas, and answers of what he will response towards my questions.

  2.  You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  What are open-ended questions? 

1.      Since you were originally from Egypt, was there any patient compliance occurred there and if so, how was that situation different than here in America?

2.       How do you think pharmacists can enforce patient compliance?

3.      What are some ways to tell that this particular person is a patient noncompliance or compliance?

4.      Do you think it is right for any medical officer or pharmacists to have control on those who are patients compliance? If so, then why?

5.      What do you think is the best solution to solve this patient compliance issue that the government or medical companies can help fund or support? 

Open-ended questions: questions that have an answer in a form of sentences or to have a more in depth, detail answer.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

Label:  Research
Due Date: Friday August 22, 2014 by 8AM

1.  List your topic here:

My topic will be based on patience compliance issue.

 2.  Write a question that helps to focus your research this month.

What are some ways to enforce patience compliance in pharmacy clinics?

 3.  Post the working bibliography (WB) on the right hand side of the blog and share it so anybody can view it.

My Working Bibliography is posted on the right side of my blog and the link is also right here.

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship

Title:  Summer Mentorship Component

Label:  Mentorship

Due Date: Monday, August 19th by 8AM (school starts August 20th)

Content: (directions)

Answer the following 5 questions.  Remember to link the log of your mentorship hours using google docs (drive).  Post your blog response on your senior project blog.  We check it there.  

Literal:  

1.  Using google doc link a log of specific hours and a description of your duties

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eZs9ObCSktG0SEbxE9l_mwFyAi2Eq0VkAkREjyZ5po/edit#gid=1724719361

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?       

Name: Andrew Kest

Work Number: 909-477-6300

Location: Del's Pharmacy 1

3. What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     

What is a pharmacist's daily routine in the pharmacy?

What is best way to start before you become a pharmacist?

How many medications does the pharmacist's have to go through every day?

Is there a lot of paper work involve?

Can pharmacists dispose expired medication or is that someone else's job?

What skills are involve into this field of work?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this career?

What happens if a pharmacist accidentally caused a person's life?

Can you become more beyond as a pharmacist?

What is the risk of being a pharmacist?

 Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

My experience observing my mentor, Andrew, is gaining the main factors of the most difficult parts about his career because I want to expect what will occur in this field before I decide to take in a career as a pharmacist. There will be a possibility that I can or cannot handle this job and I wish to know now than finding it out the long way.

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

My senior project topic will be based on patient compliance.

During summer mentorship in the pharmacy, I realized how peer pressuring it is to organize, label, count, and double checking every prescription medications. From counting every single pill to packaging them away, the line of work in the pharmacy is more stressful than you think. Until you become used to your daily routine in a indoor- pharmacy. Andrew, my mentor, told me that it is more easier working in a indoor- pharmacy than an outdoor. There is only one difference between those two pharmacy, the indoor is where you do not interact with patients and the outdoor you do. Andrew actually works in both kinds of pharmacy, he still prefers the indoor because in the outdoor you have to deal with patient compliance issue. Patient compliance issue is when a patient is taking their medication correctly and follow their medical advice, yet it falls into a situation of the patient becoming self - care and self-directed, and a lack of comprehension of treatment benefits. In other words, they rely on the directions written on the bottle and their self conscious than their own pharmacist. These kinds of patients would be taking their medication in their own certain way have no idea what are the side effects if they taken them in a different way. Examples would be, taking their medication before eating, smashing up the pills into powder, or not even taking their medication through their mouth. This issue has been a major problem towards for years, it is even against the law for the pharmacist to ask in a form of a question if the patient wants to know any information about their drug they have brought. I had seek interest of this information about this problem and want think more in depth about it. Especially I have no experience as a pharmacist myself, but knowing how stressful it is in both indoors and out. This issue must be shared to all of those who doesn't know the line of work inside the pharmacy.