E-Value...worthless?

A sample question from my mid-point self evaluation on E-Value for my HOSPITAL rotation:

...seriously?

Faith in drug companies restored...

So until today, I was like many people.
"Drug companies charge too much"
"All they did was tweak one little thing and now they get to maintain their brand status"
"Forget this, I'll just use ibuprofen"

Many of those thoughts are true. There has been many a time where I felt bad for dispensing medications to a patient b/c the cash price was so ridiculous and the insurance only covered so much of the cost.

However, today my faith was restored. We have a patient (call him "Joe") who is not in the best financial situation nor do they have insurance. Now, this is not a discussion as to why Joe does not have insurance. This is not my business nor should I pester them about getting insurance. Anyways, my rotation partner and I were given the duty to optimize this patient's meds. So we went up to talk to Joe and figure out if he was compliant, if he was refilling on time, how was he actually using the meds. After seeing what the next steps were for therapy and doing some $4 list research, we determined that optimization was still gonna cost a pretty penny :(

Then my Asian side kicked in. I started looking for coupons for the various medications and here is what I came across:

http://www.proairhfa.com/pdf/TEVA-Patient-Assistance-Program-Application.pdf
http://www.bridgestoaccess.com/

HUZZAH!!! Later we went and talked to the patient and gave him the packets of information. We ran through the list of requirements and we're pretty confident he qualifies for the assistance programs. Next step is for the doctor to prescribe the meds he needs that are made by the corresponding manufacturer and I think we're in luck...

A good critique goes a long way...

My little brother who goes to KidsGetRapedInTheShower University had this to say about my blog:

"YOUR BLOG IS SO ANTI-CLIMACTIC

THERE'S NO STORYLINE

NO WEAVING NARRATIVE

IF YOUR BLOG WAS A MOVIE

IT'D BE LIKE BATTLE: LA IN TERMS OF STORY

AND MARLEY AND ME IN TERMS OF GRAPHICS"

Thanks bro. 

success kid meme

I do what I want!

i was training my new rotation partner today. i was saying how when i make IVs, i like to listen to pandora or have netflix on. needless to say, my preceptor wasn't thrilled when she heard that...whoops! i promise it doesn't compromise my ability to make antibiotics :)

anyways, the hospital has a system like walgreens where if you think someone did something nice, you write them a golden ticket kinda thing. the cafeteria had some BOMB DIGGITY broccoli salad today and i gave them a golden ticket. yes, that was my day today. 

oh, and i finally met up with HR 3 weeks into the rotation

I'm flossy

My Kappa Psi chapter had bid acceptance this weekend. And boy, did we celebrate the new pledges! Maybe celebrated a little too much...but I digress. Looks like the new class is about 40 large, which is pretty good considering the pharmacy class itself is about 115 kids. I'm not sure how much my liver is enjoying my "celebrations" considering it didn't have to process alcohol for the past 9 months.

New roommate just moved in to the apartment. He's from another big time mid-west city and has joined me in MiddleOfNowhere, Midwest. He's a PDC member though, so I've already drawn the battle lines in the apartment...just kidding. I wonder how soon he'll realize there is nothing to do in this town?

Last bit of randomness: I flossed today for the first time in 4 months? Let's just say that a few hours later my teeth are killing me...maybe I will rub some rum on it like little kids get.

Diabetes. Diabetes.

When your blood sugar's low and you're feeling comatose, diabetes. Diabetes.

i don't think this is what darwin had in mind...

That is a "hipp-horse" as my pharmacy technician likes to call it. Obviously, that is two animal crackers stuck together and trying to mate to create the next level of evolution. I didn't even know horses went for hippos...

i'm getting too old for this shit

all in all, the birthday was pretty swell. i thought i was going to spend it secluded in my room, but my roommate decided otherwise and baked this!

the day at the hospital went very smoothly and i got a cake to top it off! not a bad day at all :)

don't you really hate it when...

So in addition to leaving dress clothes at home, I also realized I left my golf clubs at home. The driving range was going to be my friend for the next 4 weeks...looks like it'll be the next 3 out of 4 weeks as I will have to get them during the weekend...

*SIGH*

Great way to start the bday...

don't you hate it when...

Today was the end of a good weekend at home. My gf came into town to surprise her family (who were in town to help the little sister move in as a freshman in college) and to celebrate my bday weekend. It was a great weekend with her and everyone else we spent time with!

So don't you hate it when you forget something at home for your trip? Well, upon arrival to MiddleOfNowhere...I figured out that I completely forgot to bring a new set of dress clothes with me!!!!!!!!!! Looks like the pharmacy and hospital staff will just have to assume that I am a poor schmuck and can't afford more than 5 dress shirts and ties...but I promise that I shower everyday.

The reason I go "home" on weekends...

But let's be honest. Even if the internet worked, I would still go home on weekends anyways.

Live-abetes part II

So my last rotation was an academic/ambulatory hybrid rotation which essentially focused on lifestyle modifications. One of the biggest learning points was treating diabetes liveabetes through non-pharm methods. My co-preceptor (we will call her Dr. Black) taught me all about healthy eating and working out to sensitize the body to insulin. On my break today, while other members of the pharmacy got cookies and snacks, I opted for the vegetable tray with ranch dressing on the side. Ally, my rotation partner, snarkly said that the ranch probably negates all the vegetables. Whatever. Then yesterday, the whole apartment (me, Ally, and Michael [PT student]) went for a run around the pond system. I think I ran about 3 miles and I was dead tired. But at least I got my physical activity in for the week.

I want to imprint "LIVEABETES" on yellow wrist bands. Do you think the uniballer himself would have a problem with that?

Live-abetes

My rotation partner is extremely witty and showed it off today. For anonymity's sake, we will call her Ally. First, we started saying "well if Ally ran the hospital...". An example of this was when she found a discrepancy in the meds officially administered  and what was in the care notes. So she said, "well if I ran the hospital, the forgotten charges would come out of the nurses paychecks!" We kinda kept this up all day making up random ways to make the hospital "better" haha.

Then at some point, we started discussing diabetes. She mentioned how "die"abetes is just depressing and that she wanted to rename it "live"abetes. haha, so witty! Live-abetes is just more positive about the situation.  This reminds me of how people don't like being called handicap, but rather handi-capable. Whatever floats their boat. I don't care if you have diabetes or liveabetes, just get that blood glucose under control!

2 rotations down, 6 to go...

1st day (working) of 3rd rotation

The first day was pretty chill. Got a tour of the hospital, which is only 2 floors. Amazingly enough, 2 floors can still be a little confusing...wish me luck figuring out the maze. I briefly learned about the computer system and kinda what a day in the pharmacy entails. Then we had orientation, which was obviously boring...but we got free lunch, which was hospital Salisbury steak. I don't think I've had a Salisbury steak since elementary school, but it was kinda tasty. Finished out the work day for a couple hours looking over the patient census with my rotation partner, then we went home at 4 pm. Home is across the street from the hospital, so the drive home was pretty quick. Just kidding. We walked obviously. Random musing: the towels here are kinda crunchy...so I will be bringing one back when I go back home. I found out that there indeed is a driving range in town. Other than that, I haven't had the motivation to drive around town. I will let you know when the motivation comes. Until next time..

Day 0, rotation 3. Middle of nowhere.

MiddleOfNowhere, Midwest (day 1 of the 3rd rotation). I left my midwest city around 730 pm. Got to MiddleOfNowhere in just about one hour. The hospital is kinda just in the middle of nowhere, next to a Hyvee and a Walmart. I suppose I will explore "the city" tomorrow. I have moved into a fully furnished apartment. My roommates are a PT student and a doctor...so we should just open up our own clinic in the apartment. Hard to complain about the accommodations, since there is internet and cable. I wish it was an HD tv though...oh how life with Marty has spoiled me with brand new appliances every week. I took a look at the chamber of commerce website for MiddleOfNowhere...it's not looking promising. Seriously though, I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do for the next 5 weeks. I did some late night grocery shopping at the Hyvee. Note to self: never buy pre-bagged fruit again because sometimes the fruit at the bottom of the bag is gross... Anyways, enjoy this post because I'm not sure how many updates there will need to be to inform you of how bored I am. Cheers.