Cleveland Clinic Florida was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

It is home to more than 100 physicians practicing more than 40 different medical specialties, as well as a full-service hospital with 150 beds and 24-hour emergency department.

While it is called a “clinic” the Cleveland Clinic is half hospital half clinic. On one half of the building is a hospital, the other half is a clinic. The Clinic side is actually bigger than the hospital.

It is the sister hospital to the main Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

I have been working at the clinic since July 4 of last year and have completed over 275 hours. I hope to reach my goal of 300 by the end of May. But before entering their volunteer program, you must take a four hour long orientation course and then get tested at their clinic for TB. After that, you get your id and uniform and begin you’re hours!

I work twice a week and a total of 8 hours. I work Saturdays at the front desk to check in visitors and deliver flowers; however, Tuesdays I work in the Pharmacy. But, this is not the typical out patient pharmacy you might be familiar with at your local Walgreens or CVS. This is quite different! I work upstairs on the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) floor in the pharmacy department where the lab and tech assistants work to create, order, and distribute different medicines or drugs to the sick people in the hospital. Their they store, produce, and compound various drugs from flu shots, to anesthesia drugs, and IVs. My main job is to help assistant them when they put together orders of IVs. They go through thousands weekly!

Powdered Drug Vial

Vial Adapter or connector

MINI-BAG plus container or diluent container

What is an IV?

Vancomycin is an antibiotic used to treat serious bacterial infections. It works by stopping the growth of bacteria.

Zosyn a combination of Piperacillin and Tazobactam is also an antibiotic. It is actually derived from Penicillin.

Each Powdered Drug Vial contains a single dose of a powdered drug (antibiotic). These are the common two vials I prepare weekly.

Mini-Bag Plus A Mini-Bag Plus (yes, that

really is its name) contains either a Dextrose or Sodium Chloride Injection, that is as a source of water, electrolytes, and calories. Basically, the mini bag is mixed with the prepared powdered drug vial and then connected to a patient’s wrist to administer not only fluids but antibiotics. The antibiotics are especially needed after surgery because a patient is even more prone to bacteria and catching another disease.

But before I can put together the IVs, I have to put on my clean suit. In the pharmacy, we have a particle free room or clean room. Clean rooms have low levels of environmental pollutants where it is safe to compound drugs. The clean room is necessary to prevent the spread of bacteria that could put the patient in danger of infections or diseases, especially after surgery.

To enter the clean room, you must put on our clean suit. But before you put it on, there is a long procedure.

First, you must enter the gown room with a hair net on. The room is split in half with red tape. On the side of the tape you enter is the dirty side, the other the clean side. On entering the room you must first put on your mask. Then, you must slip on your booties over your sneakers on the red tape and then walk to the clean side of the room. From their you wash your hands, put on your suit or gown on, then wash your hands with antibacterial solution, and finally your gloves! You can now enter the clean room. But, after you exit the clean room, you can keep your gown in the gown room for the next use, but everything else must be thrown away and you must start the process over again the next time you wish enter the clean room.

The final product!I’m on the left and the tech assistant is on the right!

Overall, going to the clinic can be pretty tiring sometimes. Every shift has to be four hours long and you are expected to attend your weekly shift with few absences. Working in the hospital is like having a job. But, I’ve made some great friends and had so many interesting experiences and adventures. This summer, I hope to even join in on their internship program. At the end of the day I know I truly am helping people, but also helping to actually save lives. That’s is my favorite part of the job (although I do enjoy my free $7 meal/snack at their Starbucks every time go!)