What I thought was most interesting about the experience was the amount of responsibility given to the technicians. We were told that after the medication labels were written up and checked by the pharmacist, the technicians did most of the work from there. This included grabbing the correct serum bag and medication in addition to doing the calculations for how much medication must be used to achieve the desired concentration. When watching the technicians prepare the drugs, one technician would lay everything out on a tray while a second technician would stay in the hood the entire time preparing one patient's medication after another. The hood is not cleaned between each medication, but rather at the end of the entire preparation hour. Also, the technician has a plastic bag in the hood where they dispose of the empty medication vials, the pharmacist does not check the actual vial against the label. Rather once all of the medications have been prepared they are checked against a list for patient name, identification number, drug, and dose. I am not sure exactly what training the technicians are required to have in order to complete all these duties, but I plan to ask upon returning to the Oncology Pharmacy on Wednesday. Overall, it was extremely interesting to watch the technicians perform these duties as they did them with much speed and precision.
After work, Mathilde and I found our way to Anka Mall. Now, normally I wouldn't blog about shopping...however this mall is the largest I have ever seen (even bigger than King of Prussia in Philadelphia I think!). It was four stories tall and had an mini-amusement park outside complete with a kiddy roller-coaster. It was paradise for the two of us and a great bonding experience as roommates :)