Lending a Hand

   It was a very busy day at my store. Despite the help of the clinical pharmacist who stopped by to drop some stuff off, I was getting farther behind. It was getting ugly. People came to pick up prescriptions that weren't ready yet. I had been trying to work on six prescriptions for a newly discharged transitional care patient. It wasn't looking good.
  I knew help was on the way. The evening shift tech was going to come in an hour early and should be arriving any minute. I went out to help someone. When I arrived at the door I was met there by an older lady with short gray-blonde hair. She had on a white jacket and was carrying a purse and a cane. Her name tag said "Mona".
  This was my relief pharmacist. I was happy to see her and a little worried. It was really busy and if she needed the help of a cane, things could get interesting. She wasn't from the corporate relief pool. I wasn't sure how well she knew our system. The last thing I needed was a pharmacist that couldn't work on the computer. Still she at least knew the basics or she would not have been sent here. I decided that it was best to hold my judgment and let her in.
   I showed her where to put her things and told her to get logged in. The clinical pharmacist was about to leave so I planned to let Mona work on his terminal close to mine so I could help her if she needed help. The evening shift tech arrived.
  All of us got right to work. Mona and I counted out prescriptions. The techs worked on entering the new prescriptions and waiting on customers. The prescriptions poured in. We all worked as hard as we could. We were still getting behind, but it was at a much slower rate. We kept plugging away. I hoped that as the evening wore on things would get better.
  Five o'clock rolled around. C called to let me know that he was on his way home. I told him to go ahead and eat. I wasn't going to be home until around seven at the earliest. He told me if I could get home by seven, we could go out for a hamburger. A hamburger sounded really good to me.
  It looked like things were going to get better and then we got another rush of customers. Two of them had brought in discharge prescriptions from a local hospital. Some of the prescriptions had illegible signatures. Why can't this blankety-blank doctors learn to write?
  My dream of being able to have a hamburger was slipping away. I was not happy about that. All I'd had to eat that day was a bowl of cereal and a slice of pizza. I'd also been at work since seven that morning. My eyes were getting tired. I wanted to go home.
  The tech needed to go on break. I decided that I would stay and cover the tech during her break and then go home unless something else happened. Mona and I worked on mopping up the last of the rush. I'm sure the people were not happy about the wait. There was nothing we could do. Patient safety comes first.
  I finally left at half past seven. C hadn't eaten and was still willing to go out for a burger if I got home asap. I left Mona and the tech and told them I would be there in the morning to help out.
  I drove home tired, thirsty, hungry and frustrated. I didn't want to go back in the morning. It was my day off. I wanted to do some laundry, practice my instruments and knit. On the other hand Mona needed the help. I couldn't in good conscience leave her with the mess. My plan was to go in at about 7:30 in the morning and leave at one. It seemed like a good plan. C and I went out for a burger. I felt better.
  I showed up a bit later than I'd hoped. Mona was already there working on something. I started to check the prescriptions that had been filled yesterday. The tech for  that day showed up early. Mona shared a thought from her morning devotional book. We were going to face our challenges and embrace them. We were not going to let ourselves get discouraged. It was a good thought and I was glad that she shared it. The three of us went about our tasks. I felt good about showing up.
  A few times Mona got stuck and was unable to figure out what to do. I was able to help her get things figured out. She did know the system pretty well, she just wasn't  confident about it. Bit by bit we were getting things done. It helped that it wasn't quite as busy as the day before. I felt confident about how things were going.
  At one point Mona mentioned that she hadn't eaten that morning. I wondered if some of her problem was simple hunger. At noon I ordered her to get something to eat. I took over her terminal so that she would understand that I meant what I said. She went off to get a sandwich. The tech started to fill the prescriptions and was working at a fast rate. We were going to get caught up. I was going to be able to leave on time or at least close to on time. I would still have part of a day off.
  When Mona came back I told the tech to take her break. We were in good shape. I wanted her to take her break earlier in case we needed her later.
  Things were looking good. Mona looked better. I think she probably felt better too. By the time the tech finished her lunch break I felt that I could go home. I logged off my terminal and gathered my things. I told Mona that I would keep my cell phone with me if she needed help.
  On the way out Mona handed me an envelope. I thanked her. Once I got to the back room to get my coat I looked at the envelope. There was a card inside. It was a thank you card. In it she thanked me for being a good coach. She was grateful that I came to help and did so in a way that did not make her feel like I thought she didn't know what she was doing. I smiled at the card. Coming in was the right thing to do.
   I went back to the pharmacy and told her to keep my name and number in her reference notebook. I told her that she could call me if she felt stuck and I would try to help her.
  I left feeling good about sacrificing my day off. I think I helped and in more ways than one. Maybe Mona would feel more confident knowing that she has someone she can call for help. You never know what is going to happen when you lend a hand. The one thing you can count on is that you'll feel good for doing so.