Just Another On Call Week?

I dread my on call weekends. You either get it easy or you get it really really bad. The in between sort is few if not rare. This week's call has been exceptionally...not good. Let's see...

• Got a call after midnight (it's never before midnight...trust me on this...just wouldn't be challenging enough) from a doctor...PICU...a request for prostaglandin. The drug is actually in the in-patient pharmacy...stupid woman broke protocol and woke me up for nothing. Anyway, contacted my pharmacy assitant to arrange for supply. Then she (the doctor) called again 15 minutes later...asking for the drug again...when I had just managed to fall back to sleep.
• A defective medibag tubing. The metal detector was missing from the tubing and hence...the portable pump was unable to detect the rotating mechanism...the rotating thingie could not rotate...drug could not be administered to the patient. Summary = had to go into the oncology day care centre to fix the problem. This has never happened before. It had to happen on my watch. I am sure that one day I will look back and laugh in disbelief. Right now...it's just disbelief.
• And then there is that ever exciting problem of us having a no stock or low in stock situation. I just want to point something out here...and this is especially directed to you doctors reading this post...IT IS NOT ALWAYS PHARMACY'S FAULT. There are many reasons why this happens (buy me coffee and I'll elaborate...but not Besta's or DeliFrance's coffee...I have certain standards I adhere to...strictly) and the most common one really is this; the pharma company is unable to cope with our demands. So back to basic economics...in a situation where the demand (whether from judicial use or not is a different debate altogether) exceeds the supply...use alternatives! So anyway, I think that we are out of Pip-Tazo, Meropenem, Cefepime and soon to be octreotide. Wow!
• A six year old surgical patient who was sent back with two month's supply of cefuroxime syrup. Oh joy! Had to break into the store for this one.
• A DVT (deep vein thrombosis) patient that needed TED stockings. Surprise, surprise! My dispensary had all the sizes except for the one she needed. More breaking in took place.

There were some other incidences that have escaped my short term memory...so I will end here. Need more doses of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice...which I will have to thank Christie for...he he...feel all better now. Going to have the Segambut seafood tom yam noodles for lunch. Wow...the salivary glands are fully activated now...better go...