IPSE-SEP Taiwan- Part III

My hospital attachment this week had been quite an experience. I was at a day care center for schizophrenia patients. Most of the patients I saw were adults who were affected by the disease since their teenage years or early adulthood.

I was not involved with managing drug therapy for these patients since they were mostly stable on their current regimen. However, observing these patients gave me a lot of insights into the impact of the disease and the side effects of medications. One day, I sat at the nursing station where I could see patients participating in group activities. I noticed 1 patient who appeared to be constantly chewing on something and I also thought that he had really weird facial grimaces. Reading over his charts, I knew that this was a patient who developed tardive dyskinesia on haloperidol.

I had learned about the side effects of anti-psychotics in class. However, seeing an actual patient is so much more impactful than reading about it from textbooks or watching it on YouTube..... Monitoring drug therapy is an important part of what we do as pharmacists and I am convinced that promptly assessing patient response is extremely critical in this special patient population.

Relative to my hospital experience last week, my weekend had been much more lighthearted- friends, movies, and not forgetting delicious Taiwanese snacks! I have been pampered by the variety of local food since I arrived. And my favorite? It is大肠包小肠, literally translated as "big sausage wrapping small sausage":)