Overdue Update

I’ve been over due on updating my P1 life this past month. To summarize the events within the past month, we experienced a big snowfall before the start of spring break. I did not have class for about a week as a result of it. The snowstorm gave me more time to study for the exam that was postponed. However, I thought it was irritating to prepare for the exam and later hear an announcement of another day of canceled classes. With this lost week, schoolwork got rushed as we tried to compensate for the missed days. Unfortunately, we ended up holding an additional class session after our normal classes to make up for the missed lecture in pharmacogenomics.

Schoolwork eventually leveled off and I had more time to become involved with my extracurricular activities. During the last weekend of February, several organizations, including some from our school, operated the health booths at the nearby Apple Blossom Mall in Winchester. From offerings such as free flu shots to health screenings, it was a health fair to promote wellness to the community. I was there with some of my fellow brothers in the Vial of Life booth by the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity. These vials that we handed out would contain important medical information that can help in emergencies. With a decal on the front door of the house and the fridge, the emergency personnel will know about the vial in the fridge.

Despite academics, I still have to set aside time for social activities. This past week, I went with several of my classmates to a club in Washington DC called “The Park at Fourteenth”. With four different floors playing different music, there is something for everyone. Besides clubs, good food is also our focus. About 40 minutes away from Ashburn, there is a Korean community in the city named Annandale. My fellow classmates and I went there for a Korean barbeque buffet restaurant called “Il Mee” at 10:00 pm for their nighttime special. At the current price of $10, it’s a great deal if you can wait that late to eat dinner.

That’ll be all for now and stay tuned for more updates.

Spring Enthusiasm

It has been a while since I last wrote here and quite a lot has occurred. Rotation sites and dates have been announced. Another ICARE is over and done with. Our first law exam has come and gone without much of a scar being left behind. Oh and I went to my first national pharmacy convention.


So rotations are not too far from now, trying to stay focused on classes is a bit of a challenge because of how excited I am about my upcoming rotations! I start off easy with a community rotation at a company that I have worked at before, so I think it will be a nice transition away from schoolwork. Then, after that, I have 15 weeks at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. I am very excited about those 3 rotations. I will be completing my inpatient/acute care, drug information, and one of my selective rotations there. I have heard positive feedback from other pharmacy students who have had the opportunity to work at Hopkins. Not only did they gain much knowledge from their preceptors but they also had a variety of experiences. It will probably entail a great deal of hard work, but I am nonetheless excited because of how much I stand to learn from that experience. Next up will be my ambulatory care rotations at Kaiser Permanente. I am also looking forward to that rotation because I have the least experience in the ambulatory care setting. My past jobs have been in the retail setting and I did some IPPE hours in a hospital setting. Afterwards I will be at Georgetown University Hospital for my second selective rotation which I know will deal with the neurosurgery ICU and infectious disease. After our infectious disease course here at school I definitely think this rotation will be important. Regardless of what setting I will end up practicing in, infectious disease will probably have a role because of its wide scope and the more experience I gain in that area the more my future patients will benefit. Then I will be ending my rotations at Suburban Hospital with my institutionally based rotation. Suburban Hospital is also affiliated with Johns Hopkins. The rotation line up that I have is exciting and I wish I could fast forward to mid May so I could get started.


But before I can happily skip to rotations I still have classes that I aim to do well in. Right before Spring Break we finished our ICARE course in GI/Nutrition. We have now started ICARE Musculoskeletal. Another major class this semester is Pharmacy Law. The previous class (current fourth year pharmacy students) really scared us about pharmacy law. So when the time for the midterm came I made sure to study hard for it. I wouldn't say I studied too much for the exam but it was not as nerve-wracking as I had anticipated it to be. However, that class has at the very least reminded me that pharmacy suits me better than law does. I think a reason why some pharmacy students may find pharmacy law intimidating or difficult is that it requires a different frame of mind than our other pharmacy school courses do.


During our spring break the APhA Annual Meeting and Expo was held in Washington DC. It was my first time going to a national pharmacy convention and in overall it was an interesting experience. There were not only pharmacists from all over the country but pharmacy students too. Some events we had to attend were discussions as to what issues we as pharmacy students wanted to support that would potentially, later on, help shape the profession of pharmacy. We had to attend these events since we wanted to get reimbursed through the school for our costs of attending the conference. There was an expo, where various pharmacies had booths & freebies. Also branches of the federal government related to pharmacy e.g. FDA, IHS etc, and pharmaceutical companies were there showing off their latest products. There was even a booth there promoting grapefruit juice and also various other pharmacy organizations had booths there too. One of the interesting programs at the convention was a student information showcase on PGY1 (post-graduate year 1) community pharmacy residencies. This branch of pharmacy residencies is smaller than the more widely known PGY1 residencies that are done in a hospital setting. Going to such an event and seeing all the various possibilities for a pharmacist is a great way to become enthusiastic again about the field of pharmacy.

Conclusion of the Toughest Week in Pharmacy School

This past week is known as "hell week" and we find out about it as soon as we become P1s. Especially in the spring semester of P1 year, the P2s talk about their upcoming "hell week" that consists of midterms/finals in every course for the semester. I knew my time would come, but I was skeptical that the week was really going to be worse than any usual finals week. Yeah, it was way worse.

Monday we had a midterm in Kinetics and a final in ICARE (respiratory). Tuesday, I had an IPPE site visit in the morning with an assignment due by 4pm, and in ICARE (cardio) we had a 2 hour lecture that would be on our exam on Thursday...oh crap. Wednesday we had a midterm in Drug Literature Evaluation. Thursday we had an ICARE (cardio) exam. And finally, today (Friday) we had a large group project due for Drug Lit which was a monograph for an assigned drug. I put the assignment together for my group and just submitted it about an hour ago. YES. Finally home-free for spring break! I survived p2 hell week.

That's not to say that I did well on all of those exams...I just said I survived the week. I did well enough to ensure that I can still get either B's or A's in all of the classes, but not much more than that. There was just soooo much difficult material and the exams were really tough. I think what set this week apart from final exam week is that it is in the midst of all of these other things going and and assignments that are due. Also, during finals week, we don't get material for an exam 2 days before that exam. Having a new puppy might also have something to do with how hard the week was...she definitely takes up a lot of my time and when my husband works late, I often don't get to start studying until 7 at night.

What have I learned? Watch out future p2s! It is as bad as they say. I have also learned that it would be very beneficial to me to be better at keeping up with material in ICARE as we go along. I told myself I would from the beginning, but the puppy kind of prevented that. Now that she is crate trained I will definitely do this more.

I am sooo ready for spring break! My in-laws and parents are both visiting over the break and I will be picking up some hours at CVS. I can't wait to visit with family and be rid of the stress for a at least a couple of days. *Exhale*