This morning I got to work and attended the monthly department meeting. My supervisor was discussing the changes the hospital was undergoing within the next couple of years. The intensive care unit is expanding to provide better health care in cardiology for example. Then he went on to talk about the changes the Pharmacy itself was going to experience. The supervisors are planning to get some prepacking machines that are supposed to help alleviate the load, and decrease the errors in pre-packaging. Though it all sounds great, it just made it that more evident that noboby is indispensable. We will all soon be replaced by robots and the number of employees will diminish to just a few. For instance, a hospital on the eastside got a couple of robots to make the hourly deliveries to the different rooms. This robot got rid of two tech positions since this robot took up the workload. The robot was refilled with the most common meds and the robot had a backpack attached so all other meds that needed to go up could be placed in there. Once he got to the designated areas, the nurses punched in their passwords on the keyboard attached to the front of the robot unlocking it, then the nurses got their meds.
With this new dispensing machine, the pharmacy will get rid of one technician position for sure because the estimated time of filling a med cart today is two hours give or take. This is all depending how busy the rest of the pharmacy is. With the dispensing machine, the average filling is about twenty to thirty minutes. The computer has all the schedule meds of the patients, and with the hit of a button, the computer sends this to the machine to begin the fill process. All the pharmacy would need is a person to refill the machine.
This might not seem as drastic to many of you. But just think of some of the things that have become obsolete because computers have replaced them. Needless to say, how dependent has one become with technology. Half of us can't even remember phone numbers because they are saved in our cell phone phone book. I have been the victim of technology when I lost my phone last week. I have only six entrees that I could remember, everyone else, well let's just say I am hoping to see them soon to get their numbers:)

New York, New York

This spring break I spent it at New York. The aw began as we were landing, the view from the top and at night was amazing. Given we did arrive very late at night, we just went straight to sleep. The next morning, got up and visited the Liberty Island and Ellis island. Ellis Island is the place where the immigrants were screened for any kind of infection or diseases. Just seeing the pictures, one can get a sense of relief immigrants must have felt. A whole who beginning and a new life. After crusing Battery Park, we headed to check out the World Trade Center just a couple a blocks away. Though there is a only two big holes in the ground(it just looks like they are building any ordinary building), people after seven years still come to bring flowers to the site. Rumor has it that even a year after the incident, one would get chills just being near it. I only got to walk about a tenth of Central Park, which by the way is gorgeous. I visited the Natural Museum of History, where the movie "A Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller was filled. I must admit, it would have been awesome to have some showcases come to life. LOL. At night I got to walk down Times Square. Las Vegas has alot of lights but Times Square puts it to shame. It was a bit impossible to walk though with the amount of people. I got to experience the subway. As a matter of fact,our subway was the 'E'. It took us pretty much everywhere we needed to go. Overall, I had a blast. Coming back though from such a fast paced city, I sure did get a reality check back in El Paso. We are sooo laid back. Anyways, this was my spring break, hope you all had a great one as well.

Injustice!!!

I was listening to NPR on the way to home yesterday after work. I caught the interview of an older lady who was talking about how her husband and herself have to eat of paper plates and with plastic utensils. The more I listened, the interview was concerning the eviction that renters are facing in California and accross the United States. Banks are trying to regain their losses by reselling the properties, but alot of people are losing their homes because of it. What was more disturbing about the issue of this couple, is that the landlord kept collecting money even though he was aware that the bank was foreclosing the property. The couple found out because there happened to be a notice on the door of the house asking them to leave within thirty days. How unfair is this? And to top it off, the couple did not get their money reimbursed for the time they paid when the landlord was aware of the situation. Fortunately, the couple got another thirty days to move out with the help of a legal aid, but the are still in world of hurt. Moving is not easy or cheap. God bless the families that have to rent and experience such injustice.

Should Marijuana be legalized?

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a report on the television about legalizing marijuana. The report presented both sides of the story. If marijuana is indeed legalized, then it would make it that much harder for the government to control who takes it and how much. Then there is the possibility to legalize marijuana just for medical purposes. Patients that are submitted to their chemotherapy usually lose their appetite, many have lost about 80 pounds on average on a period of 5 months. Marijuana helps these patients to regain their appetite.
But let alone the fact of how it can help patients going through chemotherapy or diagnosed with immunosuppresive lupus among other diseases. What about the tax money that is being invested on crimes relating to marijuana. Thousands of people are arrested each year with a count of possesion. And some of these cases are medical related. Needless to say, their are many victims at the cost of marijuana not being legal if at least for medical purposes. For example,take Suzanne Pfeil. She was asleep in her assisted living hospice, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), when more than 20 armed federal agents stormed into the facility and held an assault rifle to her head.WAMM was well-known as a medical marijuana dispensary and hospice that strictly abided by California state laws regarding medical marijuana Pfeil suffers from post-polio syndrome and is paraplegic. The police officers ordered her to stand, despite the fact that her leg braces and crutches were in plain view. Pfeil tried to explain that she couldn't stand, but the agents handcuffed her behind her back and left her on the bed for several hours.
Since the raid on WAMM, 33 patients have died. (www.mpp.org)
It is examples such as this one that make me want to consider the idea of legalizing marijuana. I honestly think that that money should be invested on other things such as alcohol. How many accidents are being caused because of alcohol? Shouldn't we set our priorities? I understand that marijuana just as being beneficial, can also be very dangerous.
I woul like to know what you guys think. Am I in the wrong to feel this way?

Visual Analysis

For my research topic I thought about pharmaceutical ads and the impact that it brings to the viewers. Pharmaceutical ads are constantly being released to promote and increase the companies market sales. A great example is Zyrtec OTC. It just became available to buy over the counter at the same prescription strength. Zyrtec’s patent was about to end, so Pfizer decides to come up with yet another tactic to keep selling their product. Patients may see this more of a convenience. Since they no longer have to worry about the prescription expiring or having enough refills, they can just go buy it at the nearest store like Tylenol. They save the trip to the doctor, the waiting at the pharmacy, and they avoid headaches. But are they really saving? The cost is just as expensive as before it went over the counter except now the prescription insurances will not cover it. In the long run, these so called advantages start becoming more of disadvantages.
The picture above is from a Zoloft ad. We can all recognize the little bean that comes out on other commercials. Not much color is used except for the blue for the dress. Zoloft is for depression not a red bull. That is what the image seems to get across. From depression we can get the feeling of flying after taking Zoloft. The fact that the drawing of the girl is not very attractive to begin with, actually it is a bit distorted. But depending from what point of view it is being absorbed from, this ad will give hope to those with depression.

Is the building of Texas Tech El Paso Medical School Rhetoric?

For this upcoming research topic, I had to put my thinking cap on. After the whole incident of Mr. Lozano’s accident and how Thomason took on the challenge of treating him, it got me re-evaluating the whole situation. Thomason does not tend to deny service to anyone regardless of one’s situation. In turn, this has its pros and cons. Then I started thinking about the medical school. Every Friday, the CEO of Thomason, sends out a weekly letter stating the past and future events. As I was reading the past letters I noticed that they all were pushing for the building of a four year medical school. All the letters mention how it will help to boost our economy and the amount of doctors it will bring to the Sun City. Though it all sounds great and I don’t thought we need a school, I don’t recall once being warned of the sacrifices that we might have to make and needless to say the consequences. For example, we are still in the process of recruiting the doctors for this school. Texas Tech is recruiting from all over in hopes of bringing in the best. I don’t know if you recall, maybe ten years ago, we had a great pediatric neurosurgeon in El Paso. Then he ended up leaving because he was in fact the only one picking up all the cases. He became overworked and decided to leave to a bigger city. With the building of the new medical school, how long before we can say we are fully staffed? As of now, doctors in Texas Tech Pediactrics are close to 500:1 if not more. In my opinion, this is not proper medical care. Especially children because they can’t tell you what is wrong. This in turn leads to misdiagnosis because right outside the door is a waiting room full of crying and irritable children waiting to be seen. Of all of this I developed this question. Is the El Paso four year Medical school rhetoric?

Extra Cash

So I was listening to the radio this morning, and they mentioned the check coming this summer. I am talking about the money that we are getting to help the upcoming recession. Now I was thinking, what will I do with my check. Spending it is out of the question, but how about a CD. Then again, if we do experience a recession a CD will probably not be safe. And then I thought, it seems like the money is being given to us so we do spend. Just like we will all probably spend our income tax money. I think I just might be thinking about this too much. I guess what is freaking me out is the idea of recession.
What do you guys think?