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#IamMGH tells the stories of our people. Meet Cheryl Caskey, Pharmacist, and Diana Hawkins, Pharmacy Technician, at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH). As part of Pharmacy Appreciation Month, learn more about Cheryl and Diana and their valuable work at the hospital.
Cheryl Caskey and Diana Hawkins are members of the Pharmacy Department at MGH.
Cheryl joined the team in 2020 as a pharmacist working with the Surgery Unit on T6. She also provides coverage in the hospital's inpatient pharmacy and in the Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic.
Diana has been a pharmacy technician at MGH since 2016 working in the hospital’s inpatient pharmacy and the oncology pharmacy on K2.
Cheryl: As a hospital pharmacist, I review and verify medication orders and I make dosage adjustments based on lab results or side effects that a patient experiences. It’s my job to ensure every patient on my surgical unit is on the appropriate medications at the right doses – whether that’s a home medication, a new antibiotic to treat their infection, a medication to treat their acute pain or anything in between.
I help guide medication decisions with the surgical care team and I make sure patients understand their medications. In the Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic, I meet patients before surgery to review their medications and give clear instructions on what to continue, adjust or hold. The goal is to make sure their medications don’t interfere with the surgery or increase risks like bleeding or complications.
Diana: As a pharmacy technician, I prepare many types of medications such as compounding intravenous solutions, creams, ointments, solutions, narcotics and any other medication a patient is prescribed.
I also ensure medications are available at the right place when they are needed. This includes dispensing and delivering medications to units and stocking medications in the automated dispensing units.
Some pharmacy technicians have training in more specialized tasks as well. For example, I received special training to keep the crash carts stocked with appropriate medications and ensure the items are not expired. Crash carts are integral during Code Blue and Code Pink situations and it’s essential they are properly stocked and up to date. I am also trained to work in the oncology pharmacy where I compound hazardous intravenous medications and other forms of hazardous medications.
Cheryl: My interest in pharmacy started in high school where I learned a bit about psychiatric medications and I became really fascinated by how medications can impact both mental and physical health. As I pursued my Doctor of Pharmacy, I discovered the clinical side of pharmacy and really connected with the level of involvement in direct patient care. I was drawn to the opportunity to work as part of a healthcare team, making real-time decisions, and optimizing therapy in more complex situations. That’s when I realized I wanted to pursue hospital pharmacy.
Diana: I’ve always wanted to work in healthcare, but I was never sure doing exactly what. I’ve worked in a variety of settings since graduating in 2005. This includes long-term care, production and hospital. I enjoy the hospital environment the most – there is so much variety in the job. Every day is different.
Cheryl: I find it very rewarding that my job enables me to prevent harm before it happens – catching dosing errors, adjusting medications or identifying dangerous interactions between medications makes a real difference.
Personally, I also find solving complex problems to be rewarding. There can be a lot of clinical puzzles in a hospital setting and making sense of these challenges is satisfying and rewarding to solve.
Diana: Ultimately, it is rewarding knowing that my work with medications helps a sick patient feel better and leads to a positive outcome.
On the flip side, when I am working on medications for patients in palliative care, I know it provides some level of pain relief and comfort to them.
Cheryl: Balancing competing demands can be challenging. Your time is divided into clinical consultations, drug information requests, working with your team on the floor, conducting patient care rounds and more. There's just so much to do sometimes.
On top of this, as a pharmacist, we have to maintain our accuracy – every clinical decision requires close attention to detail because even small errors can have significant consequences for patient safety. Competing priorities and frequent interruptions make this challenging.
Diana: While I love the variety of my day-to-day, being a pharmacy technician can be very fast-paced and it can be challenging to manage time appropriately. On a busy day, we have many tight deadlines to meet. Ensuring all medications are prepared, checked and delivered on time can be stressful.
As a pharmacy technician, we need to stay up to date on different medications and technologies. For example, we are assigned to work in different areas of the pharmacy, like the IV room, compounding station or the PacMed machine. We need to ensure we stay current on how to do each rotation. We also need to learn how to compound new medications or learn new technologies.
Rotations can change to adapt to changes in the hospital. For example, the opening of the Ken and Marilyn Thompson Patient Care Centre (Thomson Centre) changed our workflow considerably. New rotations were created and challenges worked out to support the new volume of patients that pharmacy would be providing for.
Cheryl: A memorable moment for me was the opening of the Thomson Centre. I worked in A and B Wings prior to that and it was such a difference to work in the new Thomson Centre. Everything was new and bright. There is so much more space here. Not only do I love working in the new space – I always hear from patients how much they appreciate the space too.
Diana: A memorable moment for me was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – the pharmacy team was responsible for drawing up all the COVID-19 vaccine doses for hospital inpatients, staff and the many vaccine clinics in the East Toronto area. Even though the world was a very scary place at that time, I felt proud to be part of something where I was bringing the world back to normal.
Cheryl: My favourite part about working at MGH is the team. I work with the team from the Surgery Unit on T6, but also in pharmacy and the culture of both teams is amazing. Everybody helps each other. Everybody works together. Everyone values your input. People ask you questions because they value what you have to say.
There are lots of opportunities to influence change at this hospital. I am a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, a multidisciplinary group that reviews medications for the hospital formulary and helps guide safe, evidence-based medication use across the organization. Every medication on an order set, protocol, and policy is reviewed by this committee. I really enjoy being part of that process because it allows me to look beyond individual patient care and contribute at a systems level.
Diana: I would totally agree with Cheryl. My favourite part about working at MGH is the team. I feel very much a part of a team here that values my skills and respects my opinion. Even though I work with many different people, it still feels like a small knit group.
There are many opportunities to grow and expand my skills. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve had the opportunity to work within the oncology pharmacy and quality assurance team. But there are also other areas like pharmacy purchasing, the technology team, drug navigation, IV trainers and scheduling. I think there’s a lot more to hospital pharmacy than many people realize! We work behind the scenes but are a critical part to ensure the hospital can serve its patients.
I'm honored to be a part of this team and I feel proud to work at MGH.
