It makes me very frustrated when I cannot help people out. It makes me even more frustrated when the only thing from keeping me from connecting with someone is a language barrier.
An older man came into the pharmacy and immediately he began to yell, "Hey, Hey" to me and the other staff. I walked over to the counter to help the gentleman. He then proceeded with, "Me, Medicine". I tried to ask him a few questions as to if he needed to pick up a prescription or if he was looking for a medicine in the store but he just stared at me. Without many answers I tried to ask for the man's name. I kept repeating the word "name" and I think things clicked as he gave me a name. I looked up the name in our computer and found that the man had 2 medications ready. So I brought them to the counter.
I then proceeded with the legal jargon, "Could you please verify your address?" The man stared at me again. I tried it a different way, "Where do you live?", still nothing. I tried, "Where is your house?", nothing.
The man was getting annoyed by all my questions. He started to yell in a foreign language. I recognized it as Eastern European but beyond that I had no idea what he was yelling at me. He started to grab for the medicine and kept yelling, "Me, Me" while pointing and throwing his arms around. I would have loved to just hand over the medicines but we have to legally verify the patient. I felt horrible that I could not understand the man and seemed to only be making him more upset with my English.
I tried a number of things, including asking him to write down his birthday, address or even provide an ID. It was useless as the man did not understand me and just kept getting more and more angry. He kept yelling in his native tongue, while grabbing at the medicine and pounding his fists on the counter.
The assistant manager was passing by the pharmacy and realized what was going on. He started asking the man to stop yelling and stop with the aggression. The old man kept yelling. The assistant manager (thankfully) understood the man's language and started to speak to the old man in the foreign language. They both got into a yelling match. The assistant manager explained that the man was upset because I was keeping his medicine from him.
I told the manager that I just needed to verify the patient and was not trying to keep anything from anyone. The manager then explained to the older man the confusion and what was needed. I told the manager an ID would suffice if speaking in English was too difficult. The manager explained this all to the older man.
The older man began to blush as he took out his ID and said "Sorry, sorry, sorry" over and over. I smiled at him trying to let him know that it was ok. I was not offended.
From that moment, every time the older man came into the pharmacy he always smiled and had his ID out before he even reached the counter. He has always been thankful and I have always been happy to help him.
Who knew that such a simple question as an address could spark such a volatile situation? If only I could speak every language then I could help every patient without feeling bad again.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Gave Me a Smirk!
I was at work one evening counseling patients on their medications. Many times topics come up that I am not always sure how to approach. I try to stay professional while describing information to patients.
Me: "Sir, this medication has a tendency to cause loose stools so you may want to avoid taking it before you go to work."
Patient 1: "What are loose stools? Is this going to keep me from work?"
Me: "No this should not keep you from going to work. If you get loose stools, you may feel symptoms of diarrhea or may feel the urge to use the bathroom."
Patient 1: "You mean crap? Why didn't you just say poop? Great, I will be crapping my pants. I guess I will just become friendly with the john."
As I want to laugh from this patient's comments, I keep a straight face and move on to the next patient that approaches the pharmacy.
Patient 2: "I don't worry about loose stools. I just hold onto mine!"
Me: "Sir, this medication has a tendency to cause loose stools so you may want to avoid taking it before you go to work."
Patient 1: "What are loose stools? Is this going to keep me from work?"
Me: "No this should not keep you from going to work. If you get loose stools, you may feel symptoms of diarrhea or may feel the urge to use the bathroom."
Patient 1: "You mean crap? Why didn't you just say poop? Great, I will be crapping my pants. I guess I will just become friendly with the john."
As I want to laugh from this patient's comments, I keep a straight face and move on to the next patient that approaches the pharmacy.
Patient 2: "I don't worry about loose stools. I just hold onto mine!"
I then begin to laugh with the second patient. Maybe I should change my jargon? I did not know loose stools could cause such comic relief....no pun intended!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
It's Street Painting Season
Drake Relays Street Painting is one of the best times anyone can have!
You have all your friends, gallons or paint and the ability to run around and get paint everywhere! Every group paints beautiful masterpieces on the campus street that represents the organization and Drake relays.
Then the scene turns into an official paint fight! What could possibly be more fun on a Friday afternoon?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Countdown
Until I get to stay with niece, sister, and bother in-law: 31 days
Until I start rotations: 33 days
Until I am back in my hometown: 101 days
Until I take part in my best friends wedding: 23 weeks and 3 days
Until I celebrate at my sister's wedding: 27 weeks and 3 days
Until I travel to DC: 50 weeks and 2 days
Until Graduation: 1 year and 30 days
Where does the time go??
Monday, April 12, 2010
Business is a Bust!
In my capstone business graduate class, I have been working on a business simulation with 4 other individuals. We have owned a laptop company for the past 10 weeks with each week being a quarter in the life cycle of the company.
We spent a TREMENDOUS amount of time on the simulation. Each week we would spend on average of over 5 hours making decisions. We put a lot of time into our decisions.
The REALLY sad part:
Our business was a bust! Compared to the other teams in the class we came in last place with two emergency loans throughout the past 10 weeks. I feel like I waisted a great deal of time in the past weeks because none of our decisions paid off. We will be getting a worse grade because the business did poorly financially (even though I put more effort into that class than most). But more aggravating is just the time put into the simulation with no results to show for it.
The Positive:
I learned a GREAT deal from the simulation. I never realized how much goes into owning, running and working a company. The amount of decisions that need to be made is overwhelming and trying to make all the decisions with 4 other owners makes it five times harder. The whole experience taught me a lot about working on a team. We got into fights but we also had fun. I also learned about flexibility and the need to 'roll with the punches'. Each week results never turned out the way we expected but the important part was what we did with those results. At points I felt like giving up but my team mates would think of good ideas of how to change things around. It showed me that even in bad situations you can make them productive by being creative with problem solving.
I think I will appreciate the experience of the simulation once I finish school and am able to apply these lessons. Right now I am still upset that the business went,
We spent a TREMENDOUS amount of time on the simulation. Each week we would spend on average of over 5 hours making decisions. We put a lot of time into our decisions.
The REALLY sad part:
Our business was a bust! Compared to the other teams in the class we came in last place with two emergency loans throughout the past 10 weeks. I feel like I waisted a great deal of time in the past weeks because none of our decisions paid off. We will be getting a worse grade because the business did poorly financially (even though I put more effort into that class than most). But more aggravating is just the time put into the simulation with no results to show for it.
The Positive:
I learned a GREAT deal from the simulation. I never realized how much goes into owning, running and working a company. The amount of decisions that need to be made is overwhelming and trying to make all the decisions with 4 other owners makes it five times harder. The whole experience taught me a lot about working on a team. We got into fights but we also had fun. I also learned about flexibility and the need to 'roll with the punches'. Each week results never turned out the way we expected but the important part was what we did with those results. At points I felt like giving up but my team mates would think of good ideas of how to change things around. It showed me that even in bad situations you can make them productive by being creative with problem solving.
I think I will appreciate the experience of the simulation once I finish school and am able to apply these lessons. Right now I am still upset that the business went,
KABOOM!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Cancer Is Interesting
Recently, in two of my classes we have begun reviewing cancer topics. We have been discussing cancer medications, side effect management (including pain and nausea), therapy alternatives and the varieties of cancers. We have never been exposed to this topic so in depth until now and I find it to be very interesting. The progression of cancer seems unfair yet can be logically explained in most cases.
The most depressing part of the topics is that cancer is usually not cured. With all the medications and therapies available, most times the best things we can do for cancer patients is to make their quality of life better. There are an abundance of chemo medications yet they are not wonder drugs. They can only go so far and cause so many side effects. I could not imagine trying to battle cancer, while going through all the treatments (that take up the majority of your time) and while trying to deal with all the side effects.
Discussing these topics in class has caught my interest. Knowing how horrible the disease is, motivates me to seek out better and more efficacious treatments for these diseases. I think it is important to help these patients truly understand their therapies as well as make their lives as good as possible while being treated. Oncology (study of cancer) is a new area of interest for me. I am even more excited knowing that my rotation with the FDA is in their oncology department. There are so many aspects that I have yet to cover but cannot wait to start making a difference for some patients!
The most depressing part of the topics is that cancer is usually not cured. With all the medications and therapies available, most times the best things we can do for cancer patients is to make their quality of life better. There are an abundance of chemo medications yet they are not wonder drugs. They can only go so far and cause so many side effects. I could not imagine trying to battle cancer, while going through all the treatments (that take up the majority of your time) and while trying to deal with all the side effects.
Discussing these topics in class has caught my interest. Knowing how horrible the disease is, motivates me to seek out better and more efficacious treatments for these diseases. I think it is important to help these patients truly understand their therapies as well as make their lives as good as possible while being treated. Oncology (study of cancer) is a new area of interest for me. I am even more excited knowing that my rotation with the FDA is in their oncology department. There are so many aspects that I have yet to cover but cannot wait to start making a difference for some patients!
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