November Blog

 For the month of November, I volunteered for 4 hours at UMC. I volunteered for a shorter amount of time than I normally would as I have met the threshold for the hours required for this semester (12 hours). I have volunteered for a total of 19 hours during the past 3 months. During my time at UMC, I volunteered in the ortho trauma unit where I will likely be spending the remainder of my time in terms of volunteering. During my first day at the ortho trauma unit, I was taught how to pick up and answer phone calls from patients. Typically the patients would request something such as a bed pan or pain medication. I would then tell the patient that I would notify their respective nurse before doing so. I also had to track down on a sheet of paper which room called, the reason why the patient called, the time the patient called, the nurse who was notified of the patient's request, and the time the nurse was notified. The previous modules were not so bad, as I have figured out a way of studying that seems to be working mainly for the med pharm section. Categorizing each drugs and being able to differentiate by their endings helps out a lot. An example being that ACE inhibitors end in "-pril" such as lisinopril, captopril, and enalapril. ARBs end in "-sartan" such as losartan, valsartan, and candesartan. This made things easier for me as I didn't necessarily have the remember the name in its entirety but more so the ending of the name. This in turn helps me differentiate the mechanisms and side effects of each group of drugs, and I'm able to focus more on any specific contraindications, side effects, or indications that has been emphasized during the lectures.