SITE: Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital (PMMH) REFLECTIVE JOURNAL: 2 MODULE: PHRM102W2
INTRODUCTION:
Once we were dropped off at the hospital entrance, we were once again lost as to where the pharmacy was. Eventually, we found the pharmacy only to see many pharmacists outside taking pictures, so we were told by the pharmacy manager, Thembi Mhlongo, to wait in the tea room. After waiting a while, we were separated into two groups, …show more content…
We were told that in the main pharmacy they serve stable, chronic (eg: patients with skin conditions) and acute patients. They have a satellite pharmacy; which is a pharmacy that is placed in a different area of the hospital. There they help patients who suffer from chronic and psychiatric conditions. The satellite pharmacy is placed near the psychiatric department, because this is where they dispense medication to patients with psychiatric conditions. In Outpatients, they maintain their stock levels, accounting for medication usage and disease patterns, meaning they will stock medication for the conditions that are more prevalent in their area. They follow the Standard Treatment Guidelines which explains how to treat patients and that you should start with the basic medication first and then assess. He also informed us that some of their objectives include minimising the inconvenience of their patients and also ensuring that the right patient gets the right medication. If the pharmacy does not have the medication and is unable to get it, they give the patient a note to say that they will inform the patient when they receive that medication. They try to keep their medication in alphabetical order to minimise the wrong medicine being given out and to minimise time wastage. He then informed us about the sub-store which is basically a middleman between the main stores and the outpatients. They store medication and order weekly from stores and if necessary, they do an emergency order daily. This area can be managed by a post-basic pharmacist assistant. He also pointed us to where the high-risk area is. This is where expensive and specialised medication is stored. This area is usually managed by an intern. The pharmacist told us that in a hospital pharmacy, you don’t just need to understand the clinical aspect, but you also need to