“We’re definitely very fortunate to have seen few cases of COVID-19 and no deaths in Fort St. John. Our numbers here in the North are not climbing. It gives me hope.
As a Pharmacy Technician, I work in a series of rotations. I have similar tasks every day for a two-week rotation. The rotations vary to cover all the tasks required of Pharmacy.
A typical day for me could involve taking calls from nursing staff and physicians, processing medication orders so nurses can pull medications for patients out of our automated medication stations. Ensuring inventory is rotated, keeping track of expiry dates and refilling all of the Pyxis machines. And preparing IV medications.
Our department has had to deal with shortages of PPE, like everywhere else in the province. We pool our supplies so that everybody in the hospital has access to PPE. We also need to ensure that we have the specialized PPE we require for our work mixing IV chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is prepared in a negative pressure room inside a Biological Safety Cabinet. Some medications require that we reconstitute them, others are added directly into the IV fluid. We require a gown that is impermeable and an N95 mask as part of the garbing process.
At the beginning of every day, we fill out a form if we require any PPE for that day. Fort St John has a team whose job is to figure which departments get which kind of PPE and how much you are allowed. There are daily allotments based on the tasks you perform. The system makes sure everybody has access.
You never want anybody to go without PPE. We’re doing the best we can with the resources we have.”
- Jackie, Pharmacy Technician, part of the health care team