What I Learn from Working In a Hospital in Indonesia

This summer I did internship at a government hospital in my town. It was tiring, but has its benefits.

Bad things:

1. It was honestly boring. As administrative staff, I don’t like doing routine job. Like everyday checking supplies in the pantry, checking computer data, blah blah whatnot.

2. Administrative staffs. Boring job for equally boring people. Both women and MEN gossip a lot. What’s worse, they were always gossiping about celebrities’ scandals and any form of housewives talk. Like there’s nothing in the world can interest them as much as gossip does. But they don’t seem to get bored by themselves, though.

3. Because of reason 2, I couldn’t talk to anyone. I talked sometimes out of boredom, but in merely 15 minutes they made me even more bored.

4. Flirty 30-40s men with gossip traits and banal language. God, this is simply untolerable.

5. I didn’t see high-tech medical equipments. Or they didn’t allow me to see. I wish they put me in hospital laboratory instead of the warehouse.

Good things:

1. I know that working in a hospital is a bad thing for me. Or at least working at THAT hospital.

2. Prevent me from applying for a boring job in the future.

3. Despite all its flaws, that hospital is still prestigious! It’ll do good for my resume.

4. Some of people there (usually those in higher positions, not merely staff or newly hired) were more respectable and nice to talk with. Unfortunately, they were often busy.

5. I learned about drug price policy and regulations. It really helps to make me looks as if I understand economic while I barely understand NASDAQ table.

My conclusion is: work at a hospital but just for a while, don’t make it my forever after dream job. I’ll end up being such a characterless individual.

Note: this only applies for administrative works and possibly what pharmacists do in a hospital, in Indonesia. Doctors do better I think. Considering I worked at a hospital in the CAPITAL of Indonesia, it may represents the condition of all Indonesian hospital in general. I’m not talking about international hospitals here, like Pondok Indah. They may not be different, though.

But I hope they may be.

Internship in a Hospital

I’m having internship in June – July, so I may not be able to post frequently.  This internship in a local hospital has been taking most of my HOLIDAY time and it’s insanely boring! But at least it gives me some valuable information: working as a Pharmacist in an Indonesian hospital is extremely boring, more of a clerk job, and I advise myself-of-the-future NOT to apply for job in a hospital. I’d rather be in some food industry, thank you. Maybe thinking ways of advertising, marketing, or better in quality control! More details come later.

Until then, I bid you adieu.

Your most humble & obedient servant,

F.F

Gangguan Jiwa ada Dimana-mana

Kali ini menulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Kenapa? Sejujurnya, semua orang paling suka dengan bahasa negeri sendiri. Begitu pula saya. Sederhana saja. Kembali ke topik yang jadi judul…

Kemarin waktu pulang dari Gramedia, suasananya gelap dan suram dan mendung. Pokoknya misterius dan menyenangkan. Aku naik angkot. Selain aku, yang naik ada 8 orang. Jadilah kami Fellowship of the Angkot, yang terdiri dari 3 orang anak SMP yang ribut, 1 orang bapak berjas, agak tua, sepasang suami-istri yang terlihat biasa-biasa saja, mbak berambut panjang, dan si supirnya tentu.

G berapa lama, bapak berjas mengajak bicara si suami. Dia bertanya, “Bapak asli mana?”
“Oh kami dari Indramayu”
“Disini lagi kerja?”
“Bukan, lagi berobat”
“Siapa yang sakit?”
“Istri saya”
“Penyakit apa?”
Sampai detik ini aku g terlalu perhatian sama mereka.
“GANGGUAN JIWA”

Kuharap mereka tidak melihat dilatasi pupil saya yang tampak kentara, atau otot muka yang tertarik ke atas membentuk senyuman samar. Jeritan sih bisa kutahan. Di kepalaku langsung muncul serentetan kata-kata…
“Kepribadian ganda? Depresi? Mania? Bipolar? Skizofrenia?” dan sebagainya.

Sayangnya percakapan tidak berlanjut dengan deskripsi penyakit. Bapak berjas itu malah menganjurkan berbagai resep nenek moyangnya. Tapi melihat ibu-ibu yang (katanya) sakit itu tampak normal dan tenang, kuduga penyakitnya pasti dari jenis yang keren.

Dulu menurutku penyakit jiwa ada 2 kategori, yang keren dan g keren. Yang g keren itu misalnya yang suka teriak-teriak, rambut gondrong, nari, g pakai baju. Lalu yang keren itu yang kelihatan normal, malah bisa aja jenius, tapi pikiran dia terganggu (misal mendengar atau melihat sesuatu). Contohnya John Nash dalam A Beautiful Mind.

Itu pikiranku dulu.

Sekarang aku tau, bahwa pembagiannya g sesederhana itu. Yang g keren itu adalah fase akut dari suatu penyakit yang keren sebagai fase kronisnya. Jadi yang keren-keren kayak skizo bisa aja tiba-tiba teriak-teriak. Tapi memang ada yang murni g keren, yaitu depresi. Bahkan untuk aku yang penggemar gangguan jiwa (gemar topiknya, tidak gemar mengalami) depresi itu sangat menyebalkan. Aku g suka orang depresi, kecuali kalau depresi karena cobaan yang memang berat banget aku maklum lah. Tapi sekarang banyak orang yang depresi gara-gara hal sepele, menurutku mereka itu g tahu bersyukur jadi menyebalkan.

Maaf OOT, jadi kesimpulannya berita di Pikiran Rakyat di suatu hari di bulan November 2009 tentang meningkatnya jumlah penderita gangguan jiwa di Jawa Barat benar adanya. Soalnya selain kejadian di angkot itu, aku lihat di bulan-bulan terakhir 2009, Rumah Sakit Jiwa di Jalan Riau juga penuh dan ramai. Sekian

Sticky Note: Papaya

Sticky Note

Papaya (Carica papaya) has papain enzyme that accelerates protein and carbohydrate breakdown, and helps cleansing our body from toxics.

Papain mainly breaks protein into arginin, an amino acid that has important role in growth.

Expired Drugs

Sometimes we ignore expired date in drugs. You may only get stomachache if you eat expired food, buy hey, it’s drug. It can be more serious, indeed.

You may see change in drug colour or funny smell, but sometimes they don’t change physically.

The main reason you shouldn’t consume expired drugs is it is being decomposed. Decomposition changes the chemical structure of drug, thus change the activity of it or eliminates the drug’s ability. Some antibiotics and vitamins can turn into monstrous toxic after their expired date, I swear! These chemical reactions happen quickly, so don’t assume it’s safe just because it’s only ONE DAY after expired date.

• Note for antibiotics: commonly antibiotics beyond expired date lose half of their powers. Bacterias realize their enemies are weakened, so they multiply quicker and can mutate into something more difficult to assault.

A Simplified Swine Flu Pathogenesis

There’s a lot of buzzing about this particular virus lately, and I just made a small presentation about it with my fellow pharmacy students. My part was to explain the pathogenesis, it requires a fuzzy work to find the resources needed, cause this virus is new & even scientists don’t know yet its exact ‘journey or itinerary’ in human body, how it can make us sick, etc.

From Spain flu to the most recent Swine flu, all types of influenza virus always cause sensations. I say it’s not as bad as Avian (well…maybe this Swine flu has yet to show its claws, who knows?). Our view on why it’s not as bad as Avian is because the way it spreads. Avian spread through birds, and swine through pigs. Birds can fly, it can go anywhere, thus enhances its mobility, the epidemic effect will appear quicker & broader than Swine. So what’s with all the buzz? We think that it’s related to economic conditions. Infected virus will have significant weight loss. Weight loss = meat loss. We all know that pork is one of important commodity to some countries. If pigs in their country produces less meat, they’ll have less to sell. Let the economic people explain further, it’s just not my field & I’m a bit retarded in anything economic.

How those viruses start to infect our body (and swines’)?

In travel term (cause I love travelling), it’s like you want to go to another country. How do you get there? By plane? Bus? Or train? It’s the same with virus. It wants to travel around our body. How does it enter our body to get access to wander around?

Each influenza virus has surface proteins called Hemaglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA). They’re used to identify influenza virus strains. So the term H1N1 means the virus has Hemaglutinin type 1 and Neuraminidase type 1. The HA binds to its receptor in host cell (it’s cyalic acid in human). The receptor is located on the membrane of respiratory tract epithelium. The binding makes both membranes (virus’ and host’s) to fuse, then virus can enter the host cell. Inside the host cell, it releases its RNA to host cell’s nucleus to be replicated. The RNA forms mRNA, and then it’ll be translated into proteins that form virus components. New viruses are made, they break host cell’s membrane with NA so they can get out. Once they get out, they’ll immediately use NA again to destroy host cell’s cyalic acid so the new viruses can’t bind to that cell again. And then they wander and spread around our body… (and swines, too)

Now that they have landed on our body (epithelial cells are like airport), let’s see their plan…

Oh I have arrived at ABC airport! Yay, now today I’ll rest and tomorrow I want to go there. And the next day to there…yes it’s like a holiday itinerary. Only this time it’s virus’, not our itinerary.

This virus needs rest time before it starts to replicate (incubation period) that lasts about 1-3 days. Firstly, it invades upper respiratory tract. Then, as it multiplies to hundreds of new viruses, they go to lower respiratory tract. They make our bronchii and lymph nodes to enlarge. They also cause pneumonia (about day 21 after first infection) and pleuritis. Before I forget, the enlargement of lymph nodes causes lymphatic system to deteriorate (ugh…can’t find the appropriate word at the moment, sorry). And because the lymphatic system is responsible for body defense, its malfunction can cause secondary (or opportunistic) infection(s).

That’s all maybe. I may post picture later, a little look on this virus and its membrane proteins…

Oh and use respiratory, not mask. Google them to find the differences, I heard somewhere that mask won’t work to prevent infection.

Be a survivor of Swine flu!