Drugs, lube and wet paint

My first day as a trainee pharmacist today!

My god it was tiring. Like seriously, lesson number 1 :

If you are gonna be working as a pharmacist at a hospital, wear comfy shoes. Not even normal flats, that won't do, I was practically dying in mine by the time 5 pm came around and was hating myself for not wearing my birkenstocks. Really, birkenstock level comfort, nothing less. Don't even think about heels, this goes to future Mirr. If you have a date after work, put your heels in your bag or leave them in your car, but damn girl, you don't wanna be standing up and walking around from 9 till 5 in heels. 

So pharmacist hardly sit down. Which is a relief because I absolutely hate really dislike the idea of an office job, sitting down and facing documents and computer screens. But Imma tell you its so tiring, like, so so tiring. And this is just me; I spent the day arranging the new stock and helping pack up prescriptions for patients, which required a lot of walking because hoho, you don't even know how many cabinets there are. So much respect for other jobs that are more physically demanding, contraction workers and the likes, you have all my respect, tabik spring!

Lesson number 2 :

When they say get to know where everything is, GET TO KNOW WHERE EVERYTHING IS. Caution, this is not a drill, I repeat, THIS IS NOT A DRILL.  Because sooner or later, you're gonna get a bunch of labels handed to you, and you're gonna regret not properly getting to know the system of drug arrangements. I spent more than 15 minutes getting my first prescription sorted, and I was incredibly nervous because just this morning I read about a doctor who got sued for false prescription. When I was done, the pharmacist I was helping out said 'Faster next time girl, we don't have all day.' Memorise where everything is if you can, because it helps, it makes you a bit dizzy looking for drugs all day, especially if you're doing more looking than actually finding. (I saw more drugs than people today, whoopee, sneak peak into my -InsyaAllah- life as a drug dealer)

Now if you don't know where things are, lesson number 3 is :

Ask around! Sure, everyone might be looking at you a bit weird because you're the new girl who picked out shoes more based on aesthetic value than comfort, but everyone knows you don't know where stuff is yet. My funny story of the day is that, while sorting out the stock, I could locate where almost everything was except for one thing; Durex Jelly aka, lube. And, for some reason I was shy and quiet today, plus I didn't wanna tap someone on the shoulder and go all 'Excuse me, where does the lube go?' so the new girl was walking around with two bottles of lube in her hand, not knowing where to go with it. A nice staff member pointed it out eventually, but man that was embarrassing.

Lesson number 4 :

Your handwriting matters! My handwriting is not the best and I never thought it affected anything very much, but thats far from the truth! One of the pharmacist was teaching me how to read prescriptions, what certain things mean, and he jokingly said ' Later, when you do your degree, sign up for that extra course that teaches you how to read doctors handwriting' because its true, its horrible, and it makes life so much harder. (Note to self, improve your handwriting!)

All in all, I realised that pharmacist are way way busier than I expected them to be. Patients appreciate if they get their drugs on time, so everything is on rush. Also, the pharmaceutical industry isn't as profit crazy as critics make it out to be. Theres a whole system for refunding and cancelling orders, and patients don't even need to request for it. If you are an in-patient, and you don't take the drugs that are prescribed to you for whatever reason, we will automatically reverse the charges, without you even knowing it. 

I had an eye-opening, tiring but great day. Oh and if my lube story isn't embarrassing enough, I walked into a wall of wet paint while looking for saline solution.

Look at that paint :(

My day was ultimately made because I came home to this. 

Now its starting to feel like Raya.

Love,

 Mirr

Internship experience : Cytogenetics and Molecular Diagnostics Lab

So what do you do when you get ill?

You go to the clinic, or the hospital, meet the doctors, maybe take a few samples. A few days later you get diagnosed with whatever it is you have, get treated, and tadaa, healthcare, so simple right? All you have to do is meet your doctor.

In truth, theres so much more to healthcare than doctors. Your sample goes through a whole series of test in pathology labs, to get that diagnosis. And sometimes, a simple test won't do. Sometimes, we need to access your genetic code to figure out what exactly is the best treatment for you.

Thats what the cytogenetics and molecular team at Pantai Premier Pathology does!

*say hiii to everyone*

I spent close to two weeks shadowing this group of scientist, and I've learned so much. I've learned about extraction of nucleic acids, that some samples require only RNA and others only DNA. I've learned that extraction takes practically ageeessss, we spent one whole day on the extraction of the DNA of a tumour from the gastrointestinal tract of a patient. Literally hours, it takes a lot of patience. I've learned so so much about polymerous chain reactions (PCR), what they're for, what reagents you need and the relevance of a 2 hour cycle of changing temperatures to basically multiply the amount of genetic information you have. I've also learned the different ways you can analyse genes, you can do FISH (florescent something something hehe forgot the actual name) where you get to see whether or not mutation has occurred by analysing florescent dots, or you can do karyotyping, or you can do sequencing, which is basically separating the DNA strands and figuring out the corresponding bases to see if any mutations have occurred. 

Basically a lot of science, don't have my notes now but I'd be happy to share if anyone is interested. Here's a few pictures of the science : 

A biochemical safety chamber. There are UV lights fitted into these to make sure its free of contamination

Kak Sue in the pre-PCR room preparing for solid tumours and Asyraf running the test for respiratory diseases (they get H1N1 samples too!)

DNA bases ! Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine in tubes 

I also got a chance to take my blood sample and run a karyotype to view my genes and all that. 

 1. My blood! 2. Making a culture so it multiplies and all that lol 3. After approx 48 hours of incubation in carbon dioxide, it looked a bit gel like.

After centrifuging, thats all my red blood cells at the bottom. And you get a glimpse of Nas in the background *hi Nasss*

My chromosomes under the microscope after staining on the left and on the right, they found my mascara while karyotyping haha!

Anddd thats me, and my karyotype, which is also me!

On top of learning a lot of science, I also learned that scientist have to be super OCD, bleaching and wiping things down with concentrated ethanol all the time. I've learned that I know so little, even with all the 'A-level stress' I complain about. I learned that karyotyping is extremely hard and boring (except for Razak, its so fun for you). I learned about behind the scenes hospital drama, the importance of good timing, communication and overall preserving of relationships, especially between labs and doctors. 

I also learned that choosing healthcare over law feels like the absolute right choice for me.

There's so much going on in providing healthcare, and every single department plays its important and significant part. Pathologist and the people working in the labs, reading your slides and analysing your samples, are some of the most remarkable unsung heroes in the healthcare industry. Like really, nobody ever gets to see what they do. But their part is just as important as the doctors and the nurses and everybody else. 

A shout out to the team;  Aziey, Nas, Kak Sue, Afif, Razak, Sayyidi, Asyraf and Fariq. Thank you for letting me follow you around, and layaning me when I ask way too many questions. For letting me basically kacau you and teaching me a lot of things, even sitting down and printing things out and giving me lectures. For helping me confirm that this is the field I want to venture into. InsyaAllah I'll still see you all from time to time, good luck with the lab and your personal quest, you have my best wishes.

Also, I've been happy lately. Alhamdullilah.

Go and pursue what you want to do, even if its something nobody expects you to do (I still get, wait what YOU'RE NOT DOING LAW OR ECONS, lol). And don't be afraid to try new things or to apply for learning opportunities. Just send that email, worse thing that will happen is they reject you :)

My second internship is starting this Monday, at a pharmacy department in a hospital this time. Fingers crossed that it'll be just as good as an experience.

Last few pics !

Love,

Mirr