Self Care

By Otaru Testimony Afigie

PANS, NIGERIA

It's 9pm and you've just gotten back from the pharmacy. Of course, you are not yet a pharmacist. You're still a student, but you've been overworked to the point of exhaustion. So tired that you simply collapse on the bed and drift off to sleep, just like the previous nights.

Fast forward two weeks, and you are on that same bed, coughing, immobilized, lethargic, shivering under blankets, and informing your boss that you'll be absent from work that day.

Let's examine this, shall we? Over the previous months, you effectively discharged your duties, dispensing drugs, and administering injections where necessary. Patients adore you because you know precisely the right drugs for the right ailment. But you've somehow managed to neglect the most important patient of all - yourself.

Hours after hours, you attended to several patients who presented with diverse forms of illnesses. For every cefixime you prescribed to a coughing patient, you inhaled droplets containing colonies of bacteria enough to infect an elephant. Let's not talk about the time a needle from a syringe recently used on a patient accidentally pierced your finger.

Well, it has happened. You've gotten sick, and all you can do now is recover and prevent this from happening again. 

Next time you get back from the pharmacy, wash your hands thoroughly. Preferably, wash your hands before leaving the pharmacy so that family members who shake your hands when you get home are safe.

Additionally, ensure that you keep a good distance between you and patients at all times, particularly those who are coughing or sneezing. When this is not feasible, wear a nose mask to protect yourself at all costs.

Finally, used syringes should be handled and disposed off with utmost care. A good trick is to pretend the patient has HIV, and your brain is automatically on alert.

Remember, the world needs you as a pharmacist, but the world needs you healthy, strong, vibrant, and alive.