Memo
To:
Kathy Ann Mercurio
From:
Stephanie Granados
cc:
Portfolio
Date:
December 10, 2012
This portfolio is to inform the skills and learned traits that have improved that can all be used in this field
of Pharmacy.
It includes:
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Past experiences
References
Skills both new and old
-Computers
-Communications
-Organization
New tools learned through the experience
The opportunity to show this company these suitable traits and skills would be beneficial. This would
also be a great opportunity to learn and develop all the skills even further, and make them stronger.
2012
Work Portfolio
Stephanie Granados
Professor Kathy Ann Mercurio
Technical Communications
1/10/2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE
PAGE #
MEMO
1
COVER PAGE
2
TABLE OF CONTENT
3
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
4
TECHNICAL WRITING SAMPLE
RESUME
5-7
8
Technical Definition
Stephanie Granados
11/30/2012
An IV fluids bag more commonly know as the “banana bag” contains minerals,
magnesium, sulfate, and vitamins. The word banana bag originates because of the yellow color
that the bags has creating the nickname in the late 1900s. The bag is used to correct nutritional
and chemical imbalances in ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and CCU (Coronary Care Unit) patients.
It contains one liter of saline solution that includes a 10 millimeter ampoule of
multivitamin injection (MVI), 1 milligram of folic acid; which is Vitamin B9. 10 milligrams of
thiamine; more commonly known as Vitamin B1, and occasionally has 3 grams of magnesium
sulfate depending on where it is produced.
The banana bag has a vital purpose in pharmacies because of its function. Patients with
terminal illnesses may benefit from it because the magnesium mitigates nerve pain and relieve
muscle pain and cramps. The IV is administered by a nurse according to the doctors’ orders and
it takes approximately 8-10 hours for it to take effect. The banana bag has all of required
multivitamins needed for normal body functioning. A banana bag should not be the only
dietary supplement for patients.
These bags are particularly helpful for alcoholics whose diets lead to thiamine and folic
acid deficiencies. It is common with alcoholics to not consume any food and live on only the
consumption of alcohol. As the result their bodies lack needed nutrients causing malnutrition,
because alcohol keeps the body from absorbing the nutrients.
Introduction:
Finding out what future careers hold in their organizational culture is important to
the first major project. To know about the future, the past holds the key. The past
is a way to be able to relate to things or gather information on a subject.
Pharmacy has been around for many centuries. The need of pharmacies grew
as the communities did. Exploring the rules and regulations, keys to functioning
as a hospital, the environment, and the indications of organizational culture,
helps look inside the field to answer questions and get informed on how
pharmacist function. Pharmacists are the people who decide what medication
is the best for the patient. “They dispense prescription medication to patients;
they also provide the information about the drugs that the doctors ordered for
the patients” (Mckay, 2012. Pg 1).
Methodology:
Rene Pitty is currently a Pharmacist at the University of Utah; she was interviewed
to answer some lingering questions about pharmacy. All of the information given
by her was useful and helped in the end decision that will be explained. Having
an interest in Pharmacy as a future career, it is beneficial having relatives and
contacts that are currently in the field. Upon arranging an interview with Rene
Pitty, it took a phone call, an open schedule and a little bit of patience because
she is a busy on a daily basis. Along with the interview there was information that
was found on the internet, one is an article, and another is a guide on
about.com.
Dress Code:
Having a strict set of rules helps hospitals run smoothly. Particularly at the
University of Utah the dress code is scrubs. “There is a great equalizer and it
would be the scrubs” ( Pitty, 2012 , interview). Scrubs are a way of letting
patients recognize why or who you are. Pharmacists wear a coat on top of their
scrubs that states their name and position in the pharmacy. When thinking of a
pharmacy in a hospital, a sanitary environment often comes to mind. Having to
keep your station cleaned is of great importance in this field.
Rules & Regulations:
There are guidelines that are at every hospital, at times these rules are pushed a
bit passed the limits for the patients convenience but generally they are never
pushed to the extreme because those boundaries need to be kept in place to
have order, and function as a whole.
Work Environment:
Pharmacists do not particularly have an office unless they are the superior
pharmacist or the director of pharmacy. Depending on what “section” you are
working at you could be in the I.V. room, the actual pharmacy working retail or
in the back filling prescriptions. This is the “office space” which is not a traditional
desk. Being in a pharmacy or I.V. room you are not granted permission to put
pictures of your loved ones up. Although usually a locker is given and inside you
can put your belongings and a picture or two as long as the locker is not being
damaged, after all it is the companies’ property.
Hours for pharmacist range and differ from the scheduling. There is a schedule in
the morning form 6am-2:30 pm, and another shift form 2:30pm- 11pm. Under
certain circumstances there may be different scheduling if you are covering, or
someone needed to leave early or you needed to leave early, etc.
Communication:
Communication is key in the pharmacy. Nothing else is more important,
because it is how everyone in the work place knows what is going on and what
is needed to be done etc. Communication is also how pharmacist and doctors
figure out what is best for the patient medicine wise. Pharmacists do not
necessarily choose what to do, but they do choose
What to do first or what order they believe will benefit the patients. “A lot of
individual initiative is involved in pharmacy” (Rosenthal, 2012 pg. 3). At the
University of Utah there is more women than men in this field, and they have a
political climate.
Day To Day Activity:
A lot of expectations come with along with this job as explained by Rene Pitty. It
is one of the most stressful jobs in the working world. Depending on how many
patients there are is what signifies how busy and hectic the day will be.
Approving what the doctor prescribes, checking if the patients is on other
medications that the new ones with have a bad reaction with etc., Pharmacist
then have pharmacy technicians fill the prescription or they dispense it
themselves, to then be taken to the patient or to the pharmacy.
Conclusion:
Having a vast new amount of information regarding the field of pharmacy has
given me a new perspective. Now more than ever I know that Pharmacy is the
field for me. Working in a hospital is exactly what I imagined it would be, of
course like every work place there will be difficult situations but in the end it’s the
situation that makes you realize you’re doing what you know makes you happy.
Having an equalizer, knowing how to communicate, having a clean work
environment, following a set or rules, it is exactly what I look forward to in the
pharmacy field having that level of organization.
9462 S. Hunts End, Sandy, Utah 84092(801) 707-1552nani_0119@msn.com
Objective
Stephanie Granados
To obtain an opportunity to become a Pharmacist in a hospital that would allow me to further
develop my organizational and communication skills.
Experience
Ontario, California
June 2010- August
2010
V & V Company
Financial Coordinator
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Organized and filed all of the banking statements and checks
Created the spread for finances on the computer
Communication skills improved by working with employees and clients
Timelines that were meet for every delivery
Supervised the money handling
August 2008-June 2010
St. Theresa Catholic Church
West Valley, Utah
Lead Volunteer
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Distributed 250 cans food to 50-70 people
Responsible for creating a team of 12
Team Leader of 12 to hand out food and clothing
Used communication and organizational skills
Education
August 2011- Current
Salt Lake Community College
Taylorsville, Utah
Major in Biology:
Sharlene Thomas
Phone: 801-957-4922
References
Raul Macias (323)868-991 - Michelle Peterson (801)318-377 - Jessy Gonzalez (801)253-1944