E-PHARMACY! E-DISPENSING!! PHARMACY IS PROGRESSING

I am super duper excited guys, today a pharmaceutical company came and taught us about E-dispensing and also set up the whole system in 2 units. And guess what guys, my present unit was one of them. Whoop! Whoop!! I am so excited. I know my readers in the US or UK or even in Victoria Island or Lekki would not understand why I am excited cos most pharmacies use there E-dispensing. However for me to be a part of the mini training and actually get a chance to use it while I am here in Akwa Ibom, I am super grateful to God.

I am glad that I would get to be familiar with the programme so that if I ever leave this place and apply to a place that has this system operating I would have an advantage over other applicants who don't know how to use the system.It felt really cool entering the information and printing out the labels.

For people who have travelled abroad and visited their pharmacies, E-dispensing is not new to them. E-dispensing simply replaces the handwritten labels that we usually carry and ensures that we place the drugs in containers that are child safe and clearly labeled, though dispensing envelopes are still being used they are so much secure and bigger than the previous envelopes. The E-dispensing also allows for electronic medical record keeping. It allows us to track all the drugs that a patient has been on, the time the patient came for his drugs, if the patient needs a refill we are able to retrieve his records without looking for the prescription. Daily sales and frequency of drugs prescribed and so much information can be gotten from the system. It also allows to carry out proper pharmaceutical care.

The system can be used in community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy. When the guys were teaching us, I had a fair knowledge of how it was supposed to work and I was able to understand what they were saying quickly. I guess I understood quickly because of where I did my internship. Like I said I did my internship training in a community pharmacy because I was tired of waiting for a hospital to call me to come for the internship program and I was not interested in leaving Lagos. However I am grateful for the fact that I did my internship there because not only did I learn a lot about drugs and pharmacy practice but I learnt how to run a pharmacy and how to operate the sales/stock software and Ms Excel and so much more. 

The guys setting up the program could see that I had that computer knowledge and at a point when one of them was showing me how to back up (which I was used to because we used to back up our sales/stock everyday at the pharmacy) I left to get some things from my boss’s office and he made sure i was called back just to show me how to finish the process and I was also showed how to shut down since I was used to windows 7. They were impressed and I am sure they would like me to be a part of the training but as I am still a lowly Pharmacist 1 I am sure that I won’t be selected but it doesn’t matter. I am trying to get all the information that I can from them while they are around and I would read the manual that they brought and I know that i would be fine.

About a year ago or more, I read an interview of a pharmacist in a top private hospital in Lagos in Flair (aka True Love) and she stated E-dispensing as part of her duties and I wondered when I would ever get there. Now I can officially say that e-dispensing is part of my duties here at UUTH, Uyo, Yippee!!

Lately I seem to see that God has a plan for everything that happens to me. It was part of his plan that I would do my internship training at the community pharmacy for a time like this and that my original paln to do my youth service would not work for a time like this. I don’t know why I was allowed to be here for the E-dispensing to be brought in place now but I guess it is all part of a bigger plan (maybe I would soon set up my own pharmacy soon……*dreamingbig). 

Here are some pictures i took when we were been taught on how to use the programme:

Whatever the reason is I am grateful to God for allowing Biofem (the company that paid for the E-dispensing to be brought) and especially grateful to Pharm Daniel Awolaja (my senior in pharmacy school) to choose UUTH, Uyo to be chosen for the implementation of the program and also for the meal (thank you sooooo much Pharm Daniel). Things are looking up for pharmacy; hopefully we would be able to maintain the system. God willing I intend to try my possible best to make sure that we maintain the system even if I have to blackmail all the pharmaceutical reps that come to the pharmacy.....*smiling.

Gotta go guys, I am washing my hair this night because I want to roller set it tomorrow. I would have washed on Friday and roller set on Saturday but the hair stylist won’t be around that day and I would be treating 3 of my client’s hair on Saturday so I won’t have time for my own hair. I have started a count down for when I would relax my hair, I am sooooo nervous. It has been almost 17 months without a relaxer.

Oh, before I forget I might be MIA for a while. I have a presentation in less than 3 weeks. I am kinda of prepared but as you all know I hate public speaking I need to psych myself a lot and be super prepared. Guys, wish me luck and pray for me, I need to learn how to speak in public boldly because I see myself doing public speaking a lot in the future.

Thanks so much for reading.

Luv ya,

Petite Diva.

I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN IT!!!

What have I finally received? Drumroll pleeeeeeeaaaasssseeeeee, give it up for T444Z hair food! Yes. people after almost a year of wishing that I could get the hair food I have finally been able to buy it. I paid more than the usually amount because I had to pay for it to be sent to me from Lagos. After waiting for a week for it to arrive I am happy it is in my hands safe and sound.

I already knew that the product was small from all the reviews but it was still a shock to see how small it was. As I opened it a bit spilled out and I said ‘no way am I letting anything waste’ after 6000naira. I scooped the bit that spilled on my bag and applied it on my hair. I don’t care who gives me the side eye.

It has a distinctive smell, can really place it but you smell the menthol in it, it looks like a herbal hair food and is really soft unlike most mineral oil based hair food. I had not read the ingredients when I applied it on my head but I felt a tingling sensation and knew it had menthol or peppermint. So when I read the ingredients and saw menthol I was not surprised.

I normally use castor oil for my edges and I have started using it on my hair to give it volume. I didn’t want to stop my castor oil usage so I decided that I would mix a little bit of the hair food and castor oil in a container and use on my edges and the rest of my head. I also wanted to do that so that I can get more months usage from the tiny jar (I know, I am not serious but I can’t just imagine having to pay for another jar in less than 6 months). While I was contemplating the idea I read on a hair blog that I follow that she has started mixing castor oil with the hair food and that most of her friends do so. That was all the conviction I needed.

So without further ado, here is the one and only T444Z hair food.

I would try to use it every day and after 2 months I would do a review on the product and let you know how good (or bad) it is. I am really hoping it is incredible so that I can be their distributor here in uyo. Considering the size I don’t know if 2 people can share a jar but if castor oil is added maybe, just maybe it might work. Oh well, let the experiment begin, wish me luck guys. I have taken a picture of my edges now and I would take a picture of my edges after one month and after 2 months of usage (hopefully with my swanking new camera).

Oh yeah, here is the web address for the hair food www.t444z.com. I am sure when you see the testimonies there who would want a jar by all means. Check them out.

I am preparing to relax my hair in November. I really wanted to hold out till December but I am seriously hating my wigs. Men, I just want to let my hair breathe a loooot. I am on a 'no weave, no braid' regimen so the best thing for me right now would be to relax the hair before I am tempted to do something drastic. I am hoping to do a heavy protein treatment this weekend and either roller set or blow-dry my hair. Why do I want to roller set or blow dry my hair prior to a relax session you might ask? I want my hair to be reasonably straight before the relaxer is applied so that most of the tangles and knots are not there when it is been relaxed because as we all know hair stylists are not the most patient of humans. I want no yanking of my hair, thank you.

Thanks for reading.

Luv ya,

Petite Diva.



Disclaimer: I was not paid to talk about the hair food or recommend it. I got my own jar based on testimonies of other users and got it with my own money. You are free to either check them out and get the product if you so please.

THE PROBLEM WITH PHARMACY IN NIGERIA, PHARMACISTS!!!

I am on call right now and as I was coming to the pharmacy I thought of a senior colleague that rarely comes to work and the fact that nothing has been done to him by the management of my department. And that led me to think about the ways my department seems to be descending to a place of no return. We all know the problem that is befalling my department and we are too chicken to state it and fight it.

The problem with my department is the problem of pharmacy in Nigeria, we are too damn CHICKEN LIKE AND ARE BACK BITING, BACK STABBING B****ES!!. Yep! I have said it. We are so complacent and we are not interested in sacrificing for each other instead we rather try to bring each other down. Selfishness at its peak!!

HAVING A SETBACK ON YOUR HAIR JOURNEY

I recently suffered a setback in my hair journey and as annoying as it was i just had to accept it. Apparently I have been fixing too much weave. I have been doing the same style lately and it has started telling on the left part of my hair. And then when I was loosening my hair, I cut about 5 inches of my hair by mistake. When I saw what I had done I was quite sad but since I had suffered an earlier setback and my hair gradually grew back I knew it would grow back. All I needed to do was tweak my regimen, stop all protective styles with attachment and go back to my twist(with my natural hair) and my wigs.

Suffering a setback on a healthy hair journey is inevitable. Since no one is 100% sure of what her hair would like or not like, you are bound to make a mistake one time or the other. My first setback was caused by braids. I thought that since the hair at my edges had filled out my hair could withstand the strain of braids (I also thought that the braiders would be gentle) but I was so wrong. I had 2 bald spots after the twists. Now the spot at my right side is filling up nicely but the spot at my left is not because i have been fixing the same style for all my weaves for months.

I also seem to have just understood why it is advisable to do a protein treatment before doing any (long term) protective style to your hair. I did a moisturizing wash prior to my last weave at home because I had run out of the protein treatment I brought home (lagos). When I loosened the weave  and detangled my hair I found out that I had so much broken and shed hair, I was amazed because the last time I had such huge breakage was when I did my last twists. My hair had not broken like that for months. I thought I probably had protein overload and decided that I won’t do any protein treatment again.

But since I didn’t do a protein treatment before the weave I did a light protein treatment after loosening the weave. A week later I did a moisturizing wash and the hair I lost was sooooo small. I was totally confused. Then I remembered why protein treatment is advised before a protective style. Protein treatment is advised because protein treatments strengthen your hair. The extra strength would be needed due to the manipulation that would occur with the protective style. So since I didn’t do it before the weave my hair couldn’t withstand the stress. So I now understand that I don’t have protein overload.

Sometimes you could experience a setback when you use products that are not suitable for your hair. I try to stick to products that work for me but the fun part of a hair journey is trying products that might be good for your hair. There is a possibility that there is a better product suitable for your hair out there but you would never know without trying. You just have to pray and keep your fingers crossed and also forget about the money you spent because if it is not working for your hair you need to let it go. Besides you need to have alternatives in case your go to products is out of stock for a long while. Fortunately for me i have not found any product that is not good for my hair.

So basically setbacks for me have resulted from bad protective styles and bad protective style prepping practices but for some people it could be as a result of using the wrong products or having a hair regimen that doesn’t work for them. But the most important thing to remember is that once you experience a setback, you need to find out the cause then cut it out of your regimen and try to tweak your regimen to slowly recover from the setback.

That is all for now folks, hope you enjoyed today's post. It has been five days since my parcel reached the U.S office of the shipping company I am using. They claim to deliver between 5-12 days, yep, I am that eager. I would show you what I ordered if you promise not to laugh at me…..lol

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day.

Luv ya,

Petite Diva.

IT IS OFFICIAL!!

What is official? My camera is on its way to Nigeria!! Yep! Yep!! I would soon be a proud owner of a canon camera(i decided to get it after reading the reviews). I am so excited. After months of planning and saving, i am finally going to own a camera.

I am using the Nigerian shipping company i had earlier used because i promised to try them again and let you know how it goes

. I am hoping for their sake (and mine) that there would be no problems this time. My package just arrived their US office so let the countdown begin.

I have to run. Trying to pay for the shipping charges. Wish me luck guys because my internet seems to be messed up today.

Thanks for stopping by.
Luv ya,
Petite Diva.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE UNDERLYING ISSUES OF THE ARD STRIKE

Get ready guys, this is not going to be pretty and it is going to be long. I might speak in French a little (that means I might swear a bit) I am going to say it as I feel it and let me say this, this is just my opinion and you are not to use it as a basis for your conclusions. Think about it and decide what you feel.

Now l would like to start with the issue about the enormous gap between the junior registrars and the consultants, I was amazed to find out that the gap is so darn large. I don’t get why the gap is so large. My senior colleague who has spent almost 10 years has a salary that is a bit above 2 times my own while a consultant that has probably spent 6-7 years(or more, i stand to be corrected) has a salary that is almost 3 times the junior reg and 2 times a senior reg. Why? Only a doctor or more specifically the consultants and the guys who designed the pay scale can explain. 

Have I ever said that the doctors don’t are not on the same salary scale as the other health workers? I guess the junior doctors are paying the price of being on a separate salary scale since I am darn sure that when the scheme was been designed, they were probably not in the committee. The committee was probably made up of their senior colleagues who covered their bases well. I guess that is what you can call a ‘kick in the ass’ by your own peeps uhn?

Now as for the intimidation of the older docs on the junior colleagues, that was clear for me to see when I was in pharmacy school. On a certain day, some of my class mates and I were going to our classroom and a consultant was lecturing the medical students in a hall. He called us and we were like 'was he calling us?' (as we were pharmacy students) and we didn’t want to answer but when we saw that he was adamant that we were the ones he wanted to see we went to meet him. And when we got there he started rapping into us and asking why we didn’t answer him the first time he called. Our reply was that we were pharmacy students and we didn’t think he was calling and he was all like, ‘and so?!’ and my classmates were like ‘see this one o, do we look like your students, abeg park well o!’. I can’t remember what he wanted but when he was through, we left and trust us students, we abused the living day light out of his ass as we continue our journey. He apparently expected us to run to him immediately he wagged a finger at us.

The intimidation is also so darn glaring in the hospital, a consultant makes a grievous mistake and as a reg or house officer you can’t let him know he or she made a mistake. I can’t count the number of times I have ‘my consultant wrote it and I can’t do anything about it’ or ‘my consultant wrote it, dispense it like that’. I am like what the fuck? Your consultant clearly wrote a wrong thing and even if he is not around you can’t call him again. The fear is so much that they steer clear of doing anything wrong in their sight. And trust me, I no get anybody’s time, if I can get the consultant’s number or can get to see him or her I would open my mouth and tell you point blank that I am not comfortable with the prescription. Most of the consultants I have meet either change it because they realize they made a mistake to explain their reason for the prescription and also thank me. And if I can’t call or see the consultant, I would point blank tell the junior colleague that I won’t dispense the drug or call my senior colleague.

Consultants are human too, they can make mistakes (who doesn't? i recently gave normal saline for dextrose saline and i was corrected) but because of that fear and intimidation, the junior ones cannot even point out to them that they made a mistake. For instance i had to see a consultant who wrote buscopan instead of ibuprofen for a patient, I saw the mistake and went to meet him, he apologized and said he got distracted when a pharmaceutical rep for buscopan was detailing him at the time he wrote the prescription. If I had not met him and I met a senior reg even though the doc knows that is probably an error I can categorically say that the junior doc I meet would do nothing(and if anyone tells me otherwise i would give you examples and dates when such happened). He or she would tell me that though they know it is a mistake but there is nothing they can do. They would be unable to do anything and I would have to look for his number and call him myself to try and change it. I just don't get it.

So I understand what the doctor was talking about intimidation. I don’t know if that is the way it is in the medical practice in other countries but i just remember a scene in ‘Gifted Hands’ (the story of Dr Ben Carson) where a reg rudely teased Ben Carson about his colour when he was an intern. I think there might be some element of intimidation in America but I might be wrong. I have not gone to USA yet. I think personally that if that is the way the practice is going to be then there is going to be a big problem soon. There has to be a change in attitude. Maybe it is that huge ego that the doctor mentioned, I no know o.

As for the driving best cars or schools stuff, I call that total hogwash. When did you have to do what society says? Society says that I should be married by now and have a car and I don’t so what should I do? I should grab the next guy that says hello to me and marry and also borrow money to buy the car that society thinks befits me uhn. Then when the guy is beating me like a punching bag because i didn't know anything about him, i would say society come and help me o. Or when the people i borrowed money from to buy the car are pursuing me to pay the money, i would put the blame on society. Or should i jump off a cliff because I can’t meet society’s expectation. Excuse me but I would pass. I say design your coat according to your size and material. You are not on the same journey as the next person. if you decide that because you are a doctor you buy a flashy car because you think that suits your status and then you are broke, you have no one to blame but yourself. I refuse to listen to that society explanation. You have to be financially smart. When I was in university i read some financial books it was said that most doctors are smart but financially stupid or dumb. And I think I now see why that statement was made. Guys, you need to plan according to your families’ needs not society needs.

I thought that removing a bit out of the consultants money and using it to upgrade the junior colleagues pay without government having to cough out more money because try as I may to see another reason for some of their issues, it still boils down to one thing. THEY WANT MORE MONEY!! There are other reasons but that seems like the major reason. I even heard that there was talk about a new pay scale, what?!! I seriously hope that is not true because if a new pay scale is implemented, trust other health workers, there would be a worse strike than this.

When I mentioned the only idea I had, the doctor instantly said NO!!. Now I am like so what do you want to happen? Government should give more money? And at that point my friends was where I think I lost all interest. If reshuffling the wealth among the doctors doesn’t seem fair so that government doesn’t have to spend more money not only on them but on other health workers because if they are given more money, other health workers would be given more money. That would be cool for me but there is so much to this life than money.

As the only idea that I have was absolutely rejected, I have decided that I don’t need to stick my nose in problems that don’t concern me. So I say over to you guys, do you have a better idea?

Sorry about the long post but y’all know how I like to yap. Thanks for reading.

Luv ya,

Petite Diva.

P.S: I just paid for the wonder hair food, T444Z, whoop!whoop!! it was really expensive o. I had to pay 1000 naira for it to be sent to me (uyo o, you are far from everything, no wonder things are expensive here). I am really praying that it works especially now that I have suffered another major setback on my edges.