Q: What's a typical workday like for you?

A: I'm the primary narcotic technician and I am responsible for removing from our vault and dispensing all of the narcotics that the nurses' stations need for the next 24 hours. I investigate and resolve reports regarding discrepancies in the amount of medication that has been dispensed from the pharmacy and what patients received through our nursing stations, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal laboratories and interventional radiology department.

Q: How does your role fit into the bigger health care picture?

A: I prepare the medications for the patients for their hospital stay and make sure they got the correct dose. It's drawn up, ready to be given and now we're starting to use bar coding on the individual packets we prepare for each patient to just do that extra safety check.

Q: Who do you interact with during the course of the day?

A: I interact mostly with pharmacists and the nurses. In the pharmacy, we have two pharmacists at all times. I take phone calls from nurses if they have questions or issues or are missing a medication.

Q: Why did you become a pharmacy technician?

A: I transferred from nutrition services when I was 18, where I was on the tray line, because I thought it was something I could grow and move up in, and I've been her almost 22 years.

Q: What do you like about your work?

A: I like the challenges. I have a great work team. We help each other. If we have a sick call, everybody just kind of steps up, steps in and things get done and most of us are like a family. We just all work well together and look out for each other.