Pharmacy Lesson

This past month and a half has definitely provided some very interesting learning experiences:

On the phone talking to a pharmacist from central pharmacy (where the IV room is and some medications are stored and dispensed from):

-Pharmacist: "Please let the nurses know that the whiskey cannot be loaded into the pyxis machine (the machine at each of the nurses stations that holds frequently used medications so that the nurses can get to them easily and quickly)."
-Me: "I'm sorry, do you mind repeating that - I didn't hear you correctly."
-Pharmacist: "The whiskey can't be loaded into the pyxis."
-Me: "Oh, ok....I'll let them know."
-I hang up the phone and turn to Jill, the pharmacist sitting next to me who has worked at the hospital for years. "What's the name of a drug that sounds like whiskey?"
-Jill: "I don't know, why?"
-Me: "I could have sworn that they just told me that 'Whiskey' could not be loaded into the pyxis."
-Jill: "No, they're actually talking about whiskey....alcohol."

So....apparently hospitals give whiskey to alcoholic patients (literally, like Jack Daniels) to prevent withdrawal. Who knew! After all of these years in pharmacy school that's something they never mentioned!