it's not easy being green

knut, kleiner eisbar aus dem zoo!!

ISN'T he absolutely adorable? Snuffles Yang is an avid fan of Knut and wants to go to Berlin to see him.
Lisa: OH... yeah he's the one who's friends with leo dicaprio
me: what?? he is?
Lisa: yeah i think they were on a vanity fair cover together
he's so cute
until he eats someone
me: haha
what!!
he's not gonna do that
sheesh
Lisa: polar bears eat people
Isn't she absolutely horrible? this friend of mine does not see eye-to-eye with me sometimes. anyways, her alter ego is a fat panda that putters around - so don't believe her!

and in the area of Pharmacy Times...
last night, at the end of a tiresome double shift (7:30am-11:00pm) at the hospital, i got a call from a Dr.B asking for a stat dose of DDAVP (Desmopressin) for a patient she wants to start a procedure on. i told her to put in the order for it and i'll deliver it as soon as the pharmacist approves the order (i couldn't do anything being that the pharmacist was somewhere in the basement of the pharmacy reserve hunting for an obscure tuberculosis drug). so awhile later, i bring the drug down to the nursing unit and find a disinterested nurse telling me to go hand it to the doctor myself in the patient's room. a little annoyed and unaccustomed to going into rooms (sorry, but i really don't like it! for a healthcare professional, i'm pretty scared of contact with patients), i walk in to find that Dr.B is actually a petite Indian girl about my age, with big scared eyes. obviously an intern/resident, i thought to myself. she asks if the nurse could administer it, because she has no idea how to. she frantically tries to calculate the dose in her head, looking to me for affirmation with every step, "...i want 30mcg. it's 4mcg/ml. 1ml ampules. i have 8 ampules. i want 7...and a half?" then the nurse has no idea how to administer it, and the MD looks at me, "um...just push it right? that's what i would do. right? it's okay right?" with those scared wide eyes. ha ha. i couldn't help wanting to laugh. i have to say, that was a pretty funny picture right there. three young healthcare professionals - a doctor, a nurse, and a pharmacist - all standing there with big question marks on their heads, over the simplest question. yes people, this the kind of people whose hands you place your life into. at that moment, it felt like i was a kid who suddenly finds herself in an adult world with adult responsibilities (like knowing what you're doing). surprise, surprise.

and at the same time, i felt so abashed! i should know, but i didn't. they never made us memorize The Handbook of Injectable Drugs!! but common sense tells me, you wouldn't want to give that much of a vasopressor as an IV push. however, i told her to call the pharmacy and have the pharmacist look it up for her. turns out, you had to put it in 50ml normal saline and infuse it over 15 minutes. (sigh) for some reason, i feel really upset when asked a question about pharmacy and i feel like i should know. i think i'm going to be one stressed girl when i go on my clerkships in internal medicine. argh!!

Today, my favorite MD graduates. CONGRATULATIONS Dr. "Dear Daniel" Chao!! smooches. haha.

posted by Minnie @ 11:30 PM