My first med school interview at the Australian National University (ANU) is coming up in a few weeks on the 24th September.
I've already taken time off work, booked my plane ticket and my accommodation. I'm ready to go and impress some strangers!
Unfortunately the interview clashes with my work schedule and falls on my webster packing week. What is a webster pack you ask? In short it is a blister pack containing medicine that a pharmacy makes up for the patient, completely customized to the patient's medicinal needs. It helps the management of patients with compliance issues or with complex regimes.
Currently I pack on a fortnightly basis with around about 33 patients. Every 2 weeks I sit down in my room and prepare 33 x 2 week webster packs. I dispense their medication, pull out their summary and pack the appropriate medicine into the appropriate slot. Usually I enjoy doing the webster packs as it gives me a break from all my other duties and allows me to enter a 'Zen' like mode. I find time usually goes by faster when I'm webster packing.
As I mentioned earlier, my interview clashes with my webster packing schedule. As I cannot post pone my packing schedule (as the patients' medicine cannot be delayed) I have to do them in advance. Which leads me to this week packing DOUBLE the amount in order to compensate.
After 3 days of working on the 33 patients x 2 weeks x 2 weeks, I admit I'm a bit tired. I was behind schedule as it usually takes me 2 days to finish my websters. I realised that today (the third day) I won't be able to finish all my patients' packs before 5:30pm when my roster ends. What other choice do I have but to stay back and finish them.
Thankfully I only had 3 patients left by the time 5:30pm ticked past. I've now finished my double load webster packing week. I ended up leaving work at 7:15pm, got on the train to find out it doesn't leave for an other 30 minutes. Now I'm scheduled to reach home around 9:00pm.
Maybe this is what it feels like to do overtime. Maybe if I become a doctor, this is what I need to accept on a regular basis. Although right now I want to find someone to complain about my tiring day, I feel quite pleased with myself. I prioritized my patients over my home time and voluntarily stayed back to ensure they got their medications on time.
I understand that as a doctor, working overtime for patients is inevitable. But I can also imagine that the feel of accomplishment and reward at the end of the tiring day must also be worth it.
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