Covid-19: Diary of a front-line pharmacist (3/4/20)

Hours worked: 9.25hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 1 delicious honey, ginger, lemon tea

Toilet breaks: 0

Finally, my last day of work for the week. I have been looking forward to my weekend as I felt I needed to hermit for awhile. The pharmacy crew have been having cravings of comfort food all week, myself included. This is when you know you are energy deficient and badly in need of high calorie fuel. I am determined to make chocolate chunk waffles in the weekend. I also need some self-care time to relax and ease my racing mind.

Next week is a shortened week due to the Easter holidays. The team have been working to try and stay ahead of the game. There are blister packs to be made and weekly patients to prepare for. The work in the pharmacy never ends.

We received a notice late last night regarding volunteer groups that have formed to help deliver essential items to those at high risk or those who needs to be in self isolation. A patient found details for one of the groups and contacted them for help. Unfortunately the volunteer group required a complex set up as well as money paid by the pharmacy so we were unable to go forward. We discussed options with the patient and opted for one of the current processes which our pharmacy employs: 1) meeting patient at the store front to avoid queuing; 2) meeting patient in the car park while they waited in their car to minimise exposure; 3) find a friend or family member to help collect and deliver; and 4) deliver to the patient ourselves after closing. This is just an example of the extra lengths pharmacies are doing to help keep their patients safe.

Our locum pharmacist also came up with a brilliant idea to allow us to receive physical prescriptions again. We acquired a simple box and asked the patients to drop their prescriptions in one by one to allow us to take photos on our phones before we emailed them to the pharmacy to be reprinted. The whole procedure looked comical but at least it brought some smiles to a couple of patients. To help protect patient confidentiality, we also bought tongs to help turn them over without the need to sacrifice precious gloves. The idea is that we quarantine the physical scripts and then once the box is full we will dispose of them in a confidential bin to be destroyed. To help with the process I went and purchase a cheap camera phone. Hopefully we can get it up and running next week to allow for smooth process. Creativity and thinking outside the box are very important skills and I am grateful for all the brains I have in my pharmacy.

This morning we also found out that the business will be setting up a priority access line for vulnerable shoppers, emergency services and medical personnel. A couple of businesses are also following suit and this sparked an idea in me. Next week I will create certification cards for my staff and locums to carry. During this tough time, they are struggling to take care of themselves and their families while continually going above and beyond in their duties. The least we could do is to allow them to have more time resting rather than queuing up in line to get essential items.

The war on Covid-19 wages on. We have another staff who is sick and despite the new definition for testing we still struggled to have the nurses on HealthLine listen to us. Denied for testing once again despite qualifying under the revised definition, I can only conclude that the government is not telling the truth and we lack the capacity to ramp up the testings. This further reinforced my resolve to take care of our own. With a government that continues to be dishonest and self congratulates themselves on a job well done, it is up to the people to take matters into their own hands. Small towns were closing their small borders to outsiders, businesses continues to strive to keep their employees safe, and pharmacies remain creative in their approach in a bid to keep both themselves and the public safe. We don't have to wait for the government to tighten control, remember the power resides within our hands. Take action now and flatten the curve.

Live. Love. Laugh. Liberate.

- Avis Knows

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