Covid-19: Diary of a front-line pharmacist (27/3/20)

Hours worked: 11hrs

Meals: 1 + a short sit down

Water: 4 cups

Toilet breaks: 1

Day two of lockdown. Things were getting easier. A routine has been set and we are getting used to the new way of things. People are now getting the message, stay 2 meters away and no physical copies of prescriptions and money. It's all about the hygiene and social distance.

We managed to complete all the jobs today and I can finally see the pharmacy bench and the floor. All the patients had been contacted and it felt good that I can leave the pharmacy with no extra work to my capable staff while I have a weekend to recuperate. It has been a grueling week for everyone and it's been especially tough on our lower backs, feet and legs as we were on our feet for hours at a time. Our mental fatigue is also at its all time high.

The new day also brought new policies. The government has now put in place a limit on dispensing of medications to curb the excessive hoarding behaviour which has left the supply chain of major medications broken. I almost cried with joy when I opened an order to find the much sought after inhalers. With Covid-19 being an respiratory illness, there was certainly an uptake in them and it was putting a huge strain on the supply. Amusingly, Covid-19 has focused people's attention on their own health. People began putting effort into quitting smoking and the non-compliant patients suddenly all turned up diligently wanting their medications. Who knew it took a pandemic to finally drive home the message. Move aside LTC and MUR, there's a new kid in town!

More good news came as temporary policies were put in place to help relieve the work load for pharmacy staff. Faxes can now be considered as originals provided it met the criteria and e-scripts can now be accepted without prescriber signature. It is good we were making strides as we continued to battle the government hoping they would hear us in order to make sensible decisions.

I don't know whether it is fortunate or unfortunate that a pandemic exposed the weak points in our policies and policy makers. It has been beyond frustrating to see our warning falling on deaf ears before this became a pandemic. A lot of us could see an invisible hurricane hurtling towards us and it was excruciating to see the public turning a blind eye to it. Despite all the frustrations I cannot deny that recent events have been a huge learning spurt for all of us, myself included. As a leader I was pushed further than I have ever gone and thoroughly challenged. A lot of us were left to fend for ourselves and we had to quickly adapt, be resourceful and come up with innovative ideas to serve and protect. I felt like if we could survive this, we could survive anything.

I can only hope that through our sacrifices we come to realise our stupidity and ignorance. We have to first admit we failed to recognise the severity of the situation and failed to respond appropriately and quickly before we can make improvements and come up with a more robust plan to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again. If we do not learn from our mistakes, history is doomed to repeat itself.

Live. Love. Laugh. Liberate.

- Avis Knows

(This post was originally posted to Avis Knows Consulting Pharmacist.)