Herbie’s Rotation 3 

My rotation has been going pretty well. Honestly not too much going on. Today was a good day though. I shadowed what they call the M pharmacist and it’s his job to check all of the stuff, like all of the controls, all of the loads for the pyxis, all of the refill lists, the cart for the nursing home, and all of the IVs. It wasn’t too terribly busy today but he had me check stuff and then he looked at it after me to double check to make sure it was right. It was a good experience because, as he said to me, you don’t really learn HOW to check when you’re in school, you kind of have to find a good way to do it that you’re comfortable with making sure you always check the drug, the strength, the expiration date, and that the dosage makes sense. So that was my morning and then after lunch I worked on a couple SOAP notes. My preceptor didn’t want me to go into crazy detail since I don’t have to upload them or anything. I guess the student he had from ACP before me (who I happen to know who she is) did 4 page SOAP notes and he was just like.. ooh very detailed… and didn’t feel like reading it all xD so I made mine short and sweet and left out some of the stuff that school would actually require us to put it.

4 days of rotation left. I honestly can’t wait for it to be over just because I’ve been sick this entire time and just want to sleep. Overall it’s been an okay rotation so far.

Tomorrow I get to follow the pharmacist that’s out on the floor. Wednesday I think I’m shadowing the oncology pharmacist in their cancer center. Not sure about Thursday, and Friday I’m following their dietitian. Should be a good last few days.

Herbie’s first day at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, VT:

The hospital can hold 90 patients if they really wanted to but I was told on average they’re around 40 (the hospital I work at averages anywhere from 70-120 and can hold up to about 150)

It was a rough start today since I’ve been sick the past few days but once I got there it wasn’t too too bad. It was mostly boring for me because I already work in a hospital and the stuff they were showing me today is stuff that I do every day at work. I followed around one of the techs and he showed me the stuff that prints out that they have to fill, walked me around the hospital, delivered all the loads and meds and such. It was a long day since it was going pretty slow for me. 

Good news is that my preceptor did a residency in infectious diseases and then did a fellowship in HIV meds, which are both things that I’m thinking about getting into. He said for one of the days he could have me follow one of their infectious disease doctors.