Isn't that what it's sometimes all about on a Monday? I got to work today & realized it was going to be a slow day. Not a lot going on & the long day factor is really high b/c this is a 2 job work day. About mid morning my boss asked me if I wanted to draw up sources for tomorrow. This is not really a fun job, but it has to be done every day & since I had already read blogs, checked my e-mail, etc. I was glad for something to do. A 'source' is a small amount of radioactivity that some of our customers need every day to calibrate their cameras. It doesn't matter which drug you use as long as the amount of activity is right. The amount of activity is the tricky part. They need just a smidgie. One customer orders 20 microcuries (the average dose for a patient is anywhere from 5-40 millicuries). So there is quite a difference in the volume that you draw up for a dose & the volume you draw up for a source. Anyway, I get my stuff all laid out - prescription labels, 1 mL syringes, etc. I select my drug. Like I mentioned before, it doesn't matter what drug you use as long as the activity is correct. For the really tiny sources you want to use a drug that has a weaker concentration - like 15 millicuries per mL. And this is where I had my major disconnect today. While I was suffering from an apparent brain bubble, I selected a drug that is 60 millicuries per mL. Huge difference! I drew up the first dose, read the activity & did a big double take - I had WAY too much! So I checked my equipment to be sure it was reading activity for the correct isotope - yes, all good there. I decided that I just must not have been paying close enough attention to the amount of drug that drew up into the syringe. Thus began about 30 minutes of frustration. Way too much activity, not enough activity...back & forth & back & forth. *Sigh* If I were a cussing individual I would have let it rip! I could not figure out what the problem was. I even asked my boss if he had done anything different when he compounded the kit. I had struggled all the way through 3 doses before I realized that I had selected the wrong drug. I asked my boss if I could possibly be excused from the responsibility of drawing up sources. Forever. Never to do it again.
His response - laughter. Guess that means that sources will be my job again tomorrow. Yay!
1 comment:
That sounds soooo complicated. I think you're doing a great job just to understand what they wanted you to do.
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