Sinai Grace Today!

So in the seemingly endless uniformity of my days at good ol' Sinai Grace, there is one thing that changes every week. Although it's not necessarily pharmacy related, there is a new "Sinai Grace Today" on the cafeteria television. This may not sound very exciting but it gives us insight into what's going on at the hospital we spend all our time at. And also, without trying, it manages to be hilarious. There is a joke every week that someone tells with a little less than comedic timing and then they show what is going on in the hospital this week. Last week they showed us about HazMat training where those lucky enough to work in an area in which they could be exposed, donned the big yellow suit and went through an obstacle course of craziness. I don't know what I would do if they did not capture this all on video for us to relive every 30 minutes at the cafeteria.

Speaking of the cafeteria, we also just instituted a new policy in which all IVs made must be put on a tray. It looks like the trays that you get from cafeteria and it makes me feel that I'm somewhere in between my middle grade self and the lunch lady that everyone was afraid of. In the IV room we have those yellow gowns and hair nets and face masks and gloves and booties, so I guess in the case of apparel we are definitely closer to lunch lady status. It makes the IV checking process safer, keeping things from getting shifted and in the wrong spot, the problem I worry about is the cleanliness of it. Ideally we would disinfect these trays after every use but because it is occasionally rushed in there this does not always happen. The odds of something transferring from one bag to the tray to another bag is probably slim to none but being a future pharmacist, of course I am somewhat meticulous (not compared to a lot of people but by my standards I am) and so this sometimes worries me.

I also learned something new this week that hopefully at least the soon-to-be P3s will appreciate. We had an extensive unit on Gastrointestinal disorders and how to treat them but I don't remember learning this (I'm pretty sure if we had learned this I would remember). Turns out for a bad C. difficile infection, a patient can receive 500g of Vancomycin in 1 L of saline through an enema (rectally). It has to sit there for an hour and then it can be removed. If that doesn't sound uncomfortable enough, it can be dosed every 8 hours at least. Yikes!! Finding that out made me more thankful for my health than I usually am.

From One Lunchlady to another... have a good week!!