Nursing vs. Pharmacy

Nurses General Nursing

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I was just wondering how everybody's nursing/pharmacy relations are because I currently work in a pharmacy in a hospital so I know our side of the story, but I was wondering what nurses think of their pharmacy. I saw in one post somone complaining that they dont get paid enough and they have to "deal w/pharmacy". I am going to school for nursing so I wanna see what it's like on the other side.

:uhoh21: The pharmacy at my last job was strange. I would fax an order and they would call me 2-3 times to clarify the order. Everytime I tried to pass meds they would call which was a hassle since I was the only nurse working week-ends. I finally learned that the only way I could pass my meds without being harrassed by pharmacy was to wait until the very end of my shift to fax the med orders.Most of these order were just orders for refills. If I had a new order for a multi-vitamin it came in right away. If it was for narcotics or antibiotics it seemed to take forever. :uhoh21:

With the exception of one pharmacist who grills nurses on persnickety, petty details like what brand of Vitamin C a patient is taking (like a dementia patient from the nursing home is gonna know that?!), our hospital pharmacy is an excellent resource when we have questions about a new drug or how to administer something we've never had on the floor before. I just wish we had 'em around 24 hours a day......they go home at 11 PM weeknights and at 7 PM on the weekends. Oh well, that's life in a small city hospital......sigh....... :uhoh3:

Hi Marla . . . well, try small TOWN hospital :) Our pharmacy is a 30 second walk down two short hallways. So if I'm missing a med, I just go get it! Also, we have a cupboard with standard meds we use all the time and can draw from that when pharmacy is closed. Our pharmacy staff gets to the hospital at 7 a.m. and leaves at 3 p.m. on weekdays. The pharmacist comes in on weekends in the mornings for an hour or two to check orders and narcs. But he is our only pharmacist and so when he is gone, the supervisor gets the meds and the DON is on-call for narcs. Our pharmacist was gone this weekend so he overstocked all the patients. All new admit's meds were gotten by the supervisor.

Like I said, I love our pharmacist and his staff.

steph

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