Evelyn Duncan - pharmacy technician on duty during the day when Francis Abbott's prescription was called in.

(Background) I have been a pharmacy technician for 15 years, 4 years at another pharmacy, but for the last 11 years I have worked for Sunshine Community Pharmacy. 

I remember it was a busy day that day, because I know I was tired and looking forward to going home, when Alice phoned to say she was going to be about an hour late because she was having car trouble. Also, I was working extra shifts.  My shifts are usually 4 or max 5 in a row, but the day that we are talking about was my 6^th shift in a row because I was covering for another pharmacy technician who was on vacation.  We are a small pharmacy, so if someone takes time off, we usually have to work more hours to cover their shifts.

Anyway, when Alice called, I couldn't leave Vijay all alone, so I told her I would stay until she got there.  Mrs. Abbott called around ten after 5 to see if her prescription would be ready by 5:30 and I told her it would probably be closer to 5:45 before we got it completed.  There were a couple of other people who called to see if their prescriptions were ready around the same time. Every time the phone rings I have to stop what I am doing and answer the phone, and either check to see if medications are ready or get the pharmacist to the phone and then try to get back to what I was doing in the first place.  Both Vijay and I were a bit behind on what we were doing. 

Mrs. Abbott had three medications that she needed refills on so I printed up the labels and attached them to pill vials – that is my normal procedure when we are busy, because it saves time.  Then I took the stock medications out of the cupboard and put them behind the corresponding labelled vials.  I think it was at this point that someone came to the counter to pick up a prescription and Vijay was on the phone talking to a doctor so I went to the counter to help the customer. 

I went back to filling Mrs. Abbott's prescription, put the tablets in the vials and put the lids on the vials – then I left them for Vijay to check, which is our dispensary procedure.  I then moved on to fill another prescription, preparing the labels, putting them on the vials, putting in the tablets from the stock bottles and then leaving them for the pharmacist check.  The evening technician, Alice, arrived about 17:45 – I was really glad to see her because there were a couple of customers, including Mrs. Abbott - who were waiting to pick up their medications – so I quickly updated her on where things were.  Vijay then checked Mrs. Abbott's medications and gave them to her, and talked to her about her warfarin dose. 

I'm pretty sure we have a dispensing policy, but I'm not sure of the details, I think the policy book is somewhere in the dispensary - it has been moved a few times. 

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