VOLUNTEERING AT SUBURBAN HOSPITAL

Suburban Hospital a community-based, not-for-profit hospital that has served as a trauma center for Montgomery County since 1943. There are around 14,000 admissions annually, and they have approximately 1000 credentialed physicians, more than 1800 employees, 500 nursing staff, and 450 volunteers. As part of the hospital’s volunteer program, I signed up to help out at the pharmacy department. I worked with many of the staff members within the central pharmacy, which consisted of many pharmacy technicians and pharmacists. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Stocking medications into Pyxis and Talyst machine

• Packing and sorting medications into different bins to be sent to different units

• Labelling medications with warning stickers

• Learning how to use Talyst machine to take out medications and place them into bags

WHAT I'VE LEARNED

Throughout my volunteering experience, I was able to communicate with many pharmacists and technicians and learned a lot more about the field of pharmacy. The pharmacy department is an integral part of the hospital because it’s responsible for providing all of the medications needed to treat patients. As a volunteer, I was able to see the behind-the-scenes of what goes on in the pharmacy department and meet all of the staff members that work together to support the hospital. In particular, I learned a lot about the roles of a pharmacy technician and also experienced the things that they did such as restocking medications, packaging them and sending them to different units, as well as how to use important machines make storing and transporting medications much more efficient.