Shenandoah University - Life at BJD

This Train Ain't Stopping...

2011-11-16T16:23:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm excited to be writing for the Life at BJD blog! I am a P1 student at the Ashburn campus and a native from NJ. These past few weeks have been very busy for us P1s. Between midterms and assignments, I know all of us have been amazed that somehow we are managing to get everything done and on time! It seems like every week we have something new added to our plates.

Life here at the Ashburn campus is different from the Winchester campus. We have a smaller class size so we know each other well but many commute so it doesn't necessarily have a university campus feel like Winchester does. We are lucky though. We get our classes through video conference when the professors are in Winchester and sometimes they visit! When they visit, it really gives us a chance to get to know them since we are hardly ever on the Winchester campus.

There are lots of pharmacy organizations and many of their activities are on the Winchester campus. On Nov. 5th, AMCP held the Mentor/Mentee Luncheon and Mock Interviews. The Mentor/Mentee program pairs an undergraduate student with a pharmacy student so the undergraduate can get insight in what it's like to apply to pharmacy school, help preparing for interviews, or ask questions about pharmacy in general.

A friend made this comment to me and I realize now know how true it is. Pharmacy school is like being on train. Once you are on it, It keeps moving unless you get a break, graduate, or fall off of it.

I'm definitely looking forward to winter break but for now I have to get back to studying for Pharmaceutics. No scheduled stops until Thanksgiving!

Kasey

Into the Future...

2011-11-06T18:04:00.002-05:00

The P3s, including myself, just ranked our rotation clusters this past week and we signed up for our Spring 2012 semester classes. All of these things make me think long and hard about my future - my aspirations and goals as a future pharmacist. The thought of becoming a licensed pharmacist in less than 1.5 years is extremely exciting, but honestly, a bit frightening. It calls for a lot of responsibility, much more than what I'm used to, because lives are in your hands. I went on pre-rounds at the WMC this past week with one of my professors, and it was a bit depressing, but at the same time, quite amazing. The different thoughts the pharmacist goes through, the many suggestions they come up with for medication therapy interventions, and the what-seems-like infinite knowledge they have was jaw-dropping. I hope that I can do what they do someday - making a difference in patient's lives.

Trying to stay awake...

2011-10-11T20:00:00.003-04:00

Hi bloggers,

This is my first blog entry for SU BJD! Exciting! My friend and I are trying to keep our eyes open while we study tonight, which is quite a challenge. It's been a busy past few weeks and continue to be for another couple of weeks with midterms upon us. Thankfully, we have a 4-day weekend (aka "Fall break") that will help us to recuperate and recharge between midterm exams. I knew P3 year was going to be tough, but at the same time, I guess I didn't know exactly what to expect. It's not crazy, impossibly difficult, or else I would be crying right now, but the courses are demanding and require a great deal of continual diligence. We're down 2 midterms, and have 4 more to go, including one being tomorrow morning!! I can't wait until fall break (in 3 days)!!! Yes, I'm counting down. We're in desperate need of the break.
I've been doing a lot of reflecting on SU BJD lately (maybe I'm becoming nostalgic as I am nearing graduation - haha~ in a little more than a year), but I'm really grateful to the professors and the staff. Things aren't perfect and some things seem unfair are times, but I think they're doing a good job overall with teaching and guiding us.

Well, back to studying! Wish the P3's good luck on our midterms!!!

"Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." - Henry David Thoreau (philosopher)

Esther

Final Semester

2011-02-22T09:02:00.003-05:00

The final semester has finally begun. And I definitely have a case of senioritis. I have been at my computer for the last hour with my notebook open, ready to study GI/Nutrition for ICARE...but I keep finding other things I could do (like write a BLOG). Oh well.

This semester is definitely as difficult as the others with ICARE, but the motivation level is way down. My time is spent on other school related things like preparing a dance for the talent show, or working on class websites, or KE pledging. This semester we have 9 pledges and they are amazing! I'm glad we have such a wonderful pledge class. I know they will keep KE going strong next year.

Ok sorry to keep this short but I really SHOULD be studying! I'll try to write again soon.

Winter Break! Finally!

2010-12-16T20:52:00.004-05:00

Well - that was definitely the hardest semester yet in pharmacy school! The sheer volume of material is what makes it so hard. No more are the days where you can cram IBHS material into 1 weekend as a P1...if you don't start studying for an ID exam at least a week in advance, you can kiss that A good-bye. This winter break is welcomed by myself and my classmates with open arms in hopes that it will last forever! But - the plus is that we are in the homestretch! Only 1 more semester of classes and then we are on to rotations where some of us will stay in Winchester, but some we will have to say good-bye to as they travel to other cluster locations.

During this semester, we ranked our choices for clusters and received our assignments. I am lucky because I am guaranteed the Winchester cluster as I am married, my husband has a job here, and we own our townhouse here. Because of those things, it is silly to send me to a cluster 2 hours away. A lot of classmates put Winchester as a top choice because they won't have to move and find a new place, the faculty are great as preceptors, and the rotations provide a lot of challenge. After clusters are assigned, you have to rank each individual rotation preference within your cluster. Tonight at midnight is the deadline for those rankings...and I believe we find out what our rotations are for sure by Spring break next semester. So - I'll be looking forward to that!

Next semester I've heard is just as tough as this past semester. We have ICARE Musculoskeletal, ICARE GI/Nutrition, and ICARE Neuro/Psych. In addition to those tough classes, we have Pharmacy Law, sterile compounding lab, PK/PGx, Patient Assessment II, IPPE V, and a professional practice selective (mine is Institutional). So - we will see how that goes. I already feel like I am getting a bit of senioritis though as far as the end of classes go. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

As for break, I just finished working every day since finals except 1 for a total of 45 hours and I finally have the next 4 days off to enjoy. For the remainder of break, I'll probably work a little bit more...but I plan on cooking and baking some yummy food, visiting family, and LOVING that I don't have that nagging feeling that there is something that I should be studying!

Almost done with P2 Fall Semester

2010-11-29T23:26:00.008-05:00

It was entertaining last night with a two and half hour Internet outage for most of Virginia. Comcast apparently had some issues with their server that handled DNS (Domain Name System) or the Internet address directory. It would have been nice if I knew about this and did not have to spend an hour resetting the modem and router a couple times.

The five-day Thanksgiving break was a well-needed opportunity for sleep and relaxation. This year, it was livelier than last year in Ashburn, since there were more students who were still in town to hold a potluck dinner. As usual, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, and I decided to venture off to Walmart for a portable hard drive in order to backup my precious schoolwork. All I can say is that with two Walmarts within a few miles from each other, the odds of getting any of those limited and non-major items were better.

Finally, finals week will start next week, so it will be that time of the semester to start cramming for them. Like most of my classmates, we did not do much studying during the Thanksgiving break. I’m glad that we have Monday off during final’s week for extra studying this semester. As of now, I have 2 finals on both Tuesday and Thursday, and 1 final on both Wednesday and Friday. That’ll be it for now as I get back to studying and put the finishing touches on the Biostats project and presentation that is due on Friday.

Few events occuring

2010-11-14T23:10:00.005-05:00

Things have been getting more busy lately with exams on a weekly basis, so I have been behind on updating the blog. Aside from schoolwork, I was involved with several events and extracurricular activities. Last week, we had several schools and companies participate in our yearly job fair. What a great way to end the week with free stuff and an opportunity to learn more about residencies, internships, and jobs. I met a familiar face among the crowd of recruiters. It was the pharmacist at Target I had worked with during the summer for the 70 hours of IPPE requirement.

The day after, Kappa Psi held its annual event called “Combest Bonfire.” It was intended for people to socialize and taste Dr. Combest’s famous apple cider. If by any chance you happen to miss out on this delicious cider, you have one more opportunity the week after during the Combest’s apple cider fundraiser hosted by AMCP. The bonfire was entertaining this year with a hike up a mountain, chili contest, some tasty food, and a scary movie.

Finally, I am grateful to my fellow classmates for showing up for the Habitat for Humanity event for NCPA. We had a great time helping the volunteers with the finishing touches on a home for a well deserving family. The organization created an environmentally friendly home by insulating and covering any holes in the structure. Despite it being cold outside, it was nice and cozy inside without a heater. Guess that’ll be it for now and I will resume working on the research project for my Biostats course.

Survival of the Fittest

2010-10-13T09:47:00.004-04:00

So - P3 year is definitely proving to be the most difficult so far. We just got through our first round insane exam-taking with insane amounts of material and I barely survived. This is definitely where those who are on top of their game and have perfected their study technique will make it, and those who aren't, won't. We completed our first ICARE module (endo/repro) this past week and started the next one, which is heme/onc, today. Before endo repro, I never knew how complicated a girl's life can really be - birth control, pregnancy, labor, delivery, lactation, menopause...ugh, can't wait.

Aside from all of the tests, I have been quite busy with other things as well. I am a co-chair for operation immunization in APhA and we have been working on setting up some flu clinics. Also, the leadership fraternity, PLS, is accepting new members and we recently went through applications to select those who we may want to extend an invitation to. My fraternity, KE, is having an induction for some new members this Friday and also hosting a bowling event tomorrow night along with a dinner for survivors in two weeks. Class officers are meeting tomorrow to discuss events related to graduation. And we have a project for a class we are (supposed to be) working on in the mean time that I need to start focusing on. This project requires us to create our own pharmacy in every aspect and present it to the class along with to the teacher in the form of a paper.

And I gotta fit the hub and pup in there somewhere! Needless to say, fall break (this past mon and tues) was a welcome break and I can't wait for Thanksgiving break! Today we are having a meeting about rotations and ranking where we would like to be in terms of our clusters. I am going to put down Winchester because we own property here and it would be crazy financially for me to try to live somewhere else. I have heard this is a circumstance that guarantees you a spot. Should be interesting to see where everyone wants to go.

I will try to update more often from now on!

Second year of pharmacy school

2010-09-12T23:34:00.006-04:00

It feels like it was only yesterday that I was a P1 studying in Ashburn. Time has flown by so quickly and I am now in my second year at Winchester already. The events at Ashburn will be a lasting memory that I will have, since this is my first experience living on the east coast. I’ll miss those days when it took about an hour to drive to Washington D.C. to enjoy the city’s nightlife or to get Korean food in Annandale. However, those places are still accessible with an extra hour on top of the usual commute time.

It has been several weeks into the school year and I finally feel like I have settled into Winchester. I’m currently living with a fellow classmate from Ashburn. It’s funny how several of my Ashburn classmates ended up living in close proximity with each other. A few of the guys, with the intention of residing in a large home, ended up living next to us in Stuart Hill Apartments. Some of the girls ended up living in a group at a condo complex. It’s wonderful that all my classmates live fairly close to the area so we can spend more time together. It isn’t like last year in Ashburn where half the class was commuting an hour away from areas such as Maryland or Winchester.

So far P2 year feels a bit laid back in terms of classes. We get out of class fairly early for most days and the latest class for some is until 3. Unfortunately, Wednesdays is a long day for me with an elective that does not end until 8:30 at night. So far the semester has been manageable for the transition back into the schooling mentality. The courses I’m taking this semester include pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, nonprescription medications, biostatistics, and pharmacotherapy outcomes. The courses are getting more rigorous but interesting as we hit the more in depth subjects. Besides schoolwork, I’ll be busy juggling involvement with activities for Kappa Psi and running the student NCPA chapter.

Stay tuned for further updates about being a P2 at BJD.

P3 Year Begins

2010-08-29T07:42:00.003-04:00

Is it finally my last year of classes? I guess it feels more like, is it ALREADY my last year of classes? These last two years at pharmacy school have been a blur! I can't believe it has gone by so fast. But for this P3 year, it is just beginning. I am a little bit scared of my ICARE classes this year...I have head that Infectious Disease is the toughest class yet. It may be my last year, but also my hardest!

Even though the classes may be more difficult, I also feel more comfortable in the school than ever. I am super excited for all upcoming events for the organizations that I am a part of. It seems like there is at least one event every week that I have to look forward to. I know that with all the business going on, it will make this year FLY by. (I'm hoping!)

The first week of class has been a good one as far as school goes. It was great to see friends again that I lost touch with over the summer. It's also nice to work less! Not sure about that working world yet - I am glad to return to school! I have all of the normal P3 classes in addition to two electives. For my electives I am taking Intro to Mental Health and Spanish for Pharmacists - both of which seem very interesting and like they will be a fun learning experience (Si! Muy bien!). In terms of how the first week was outside of school...it has been a bit hectic. My pup, Lily, got spayed on Thursday and it has been a challenge keeping my hyper dog calm. She has also started exhibiting some weird phantom pregnancy symptoms that we hoped would go away - like nesting and hoarding her stuffed toys like they are her puppies. Yeah - needless to say it has been interesting. We hope she heals quickly and this passes fast because it has been taking a toll on my sleeping schedule!

Well, guess it's time to start studying...

Summer Time = Work Time

2010-05-20T16:12:00.002-04:00

P2 year finally has come to an end and summer is well underway. During the last few weeks of school, things got a little crazy busy and there was no time to update. Finals was two weeks of non-stop studying and things went alright. During those last two weeks of school my husband was also in the process of switching jobs, which added on nicely to the stress. He started his new job on my first day of summer so things are back to normal. But now, instead of school, I am stuck with work.
This summer, I trying to get as many hours as I can at CVS. We are also required to complete 70 unpaid hours at both a community store and an institutional facility (hospital). I completed my hospital hours last summer at Winchester Medical Center and am planning on completing my community hours at CVS in Stephens City - which is not my home store, but it is closer to my house and easier to sneak out of to let out my pup. It's kind of depressing working long days without pay, but it's only for about 7 or 8 days total our of the whole summer so its best to just bear it and get it over with.
Other than work, it feels great to be able to come home and have free time while not worrying about studying...can't beat that!

Finishing P1 year

2010-05-07T20:28:00.001-04:00

It’s sad that time flies and a year has already passed. I’m officially done with my P1 year and I am free to relax for the summer. Unfortunately, I still have one more assignment that needs to be completed before I’m actually done. I am still required to spend 70 hours in either an institutional or community pharmacy during the summer for my IPPE course. We actually have an incomplete for that course until we actually fulfill the 70 hours. I am looking forward to acquiring new experience during my hours at a Target pharmacy this summer.

It has been an entertaining school year at BJD and my transition to life in Virginia has been wonderful. I enjoyed the small class environment and the accessibility of the professors. I learned a great deal of new knowledge that will benefit me in my career. I look forward to next year when I will learn even more in-depth knowledge as a P2. In addition, I will be more involved with events hosted by Kappa Psi and promoting interest in community pharmacy as the NCPA president.

All things eventually must come to an end and this will be my last post. I’m signing out as a P1 and looking forward to my new status as a P2.

Before finals

2010-04-30T23:15:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the last day of lectures and now it is time to shift our attention on the upcoming finals. Before I began to prepare for my finals, I had one more moment to relax and celebrate the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester. The school has given us today as a holiday to enjoy the festivities. From carnival rides to food stands, there are many activities that people can partake in. Interestingly, one of the food vendors sold jumbo turkey legs and it is worth checking out. Val Kilmer was present at the festival as the Grand Marshal. Our school was involved in the events and they hosted a one-hour Wale concert at the school stadium. I will be looking forward to the festival again during the next school year when I will be taking classes in Winchester.

Also, we had a pharmacy formal last weekend to end the school year as well. It was hosted by the three pharmacy fraternities. It was a fun night to enjoy the company of our fellow classmates and to dance the night away. For future incoming students, it has always been a tradition for our Student Dean, Dr. Kirkpatrick to dance with all the male students. She will only leave the party after she has danced with all of the male students at the event.

We accomplished a great deal this semester with our service learning course. The project for this semester was to raise money for Capital Hospice. Capital Hospice is one of the first and largest non-profit organizations in the United States to provide end-of-life care. The funds raised will help them towards the new unit that they will be opening in Loudoun County. We raised about $725 with several fundraising events such as bakes sales, a car wash, and a yard sale.

That’s all for now, I have to get back to studying for my finals next week.

Last Day Of Classes Ever

2010-04-29T14:56:00.003-04:00

Today marks an important milestone in my life. Today was the last day of classes I will ever have in my academic career. Up to this point my life has been focused on doing well in classes. Now as I prepare for my last week of finals I see myself at a crossroad. Although my classroom education will soon cease, a new chapter in my quest for learning will start in a matter of weeks.

Soon I will start rotations. During rotations the primarily passive nature of my learning will shift gears. I can no longer regurgitate the concepts I have been taught, but will have to actually apply the knowledge that my professors have worked so hard to teach me. There will no longer be diabetic patient scenarios whose insulin doses I need to titrate, but real patients with diabetes who probably have other disease states that I have to consider as well. I won't be solving for a patient's creatinine clearance on a pharmacokinetics exam, but instead I will be calculating the creatinine clearance of an ICU patient who is on cefuroxime and needs his dose adjusted. I won't be counseling a 4th year "patient" on how to use an insulin pen, but instead will have to counsel a real patient who is starting insulin for the first time in her life, explain that there is no need to be afraid of needles, and demonstrate how to properly self-administer the insulin needed. These are just a sample of scenarios I may encounter while on rotations. The spectrum of patients I will encounter will far surpass the sampling I saw in school. So although my classroom based education is now coming to an end, the hands on learning is about to be taken to the next level.

Although none of our experiences will be exactly the same, one thing that is common for all of us in the P3 class is excitement. Some of us are excited that classes are over, others are excited to start rotations, and then there are the ones like me who are excited for both reasons. In preparation for this major transition we have had several meetings in regards to what to expect on our rotations. The list of tasks and projects we have t do during rotations looks like a road map to me (and a landmine field to others). At the end of that road map will be what I have sacrificed many social occasions and put in years of hard work for...my Pharm D.

One of the great ways that the spring semester ends each year here at BJD is Phollies. Phollies is an event that students and staff work together to create funny parodies, videos, and skits as a away to reflect the last year. Some videos are parodies of our unique experiences here at BJD and others are more related to the current pop culture. But every year on the last day of classes, all the videos are shown and a few skits are performed, while the whole school turns out to laugh, laugh, and laugh until tears are streaming down our faces. Phollies is an event that I always look forward too, especially this year, since the P3 class is the one who organizes it each year and it is wonderful to see all the hard work and unique talents people put into organizing such a great event.

Good luck on finals!

Trying Times

2010-04-11T17:05:00.004-04:00

It's been quite a while for me, things have been quite busy/crazy. Last time I wrote, I just just survived P2 "hell week" and was happy to be done. My puppy, Lily, is now starting to let me study a little bit more so I have been able to keep up with material a little bit better. DO NOT GET A PUPPY IN PHARMACY SCHOOL UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO HELP YOU!! I would definitely fail everything if it were not for my husband helping me with Lily. She just graduated puppy class today and starts the next level up next week..we are very proud :)

As for school, I have been trying to keep up with ICARE as we go along, but that plan was totally ruined when unpredictable life hit. On April 31st, my grandfather passed away suddenly in his home. I have never experienced the death of someone close to me before, let alone someone in my family (other than my dog growing up - and that's not easy either). It was really hard on me. My mother informed me with the news that night (Wednesday) and told us to stay tuned for funeral plans. That upcoming weekend was Easter so the probability of the funeral falling before that weekend was not likely due to Holy Week. Gannon and I were already planning on traveling home for the holiday, but our plans as to where we were going and for how long changed. Turns out the funeral was on Saturday and the burial on Monday. We left Friday evening and returned Monday night. The weekend was pretty terrible, it is never a good time. But, it set me up for a rough upcoming week. That week after Easter, we had two ICARE exams back to back - Wednesday and Thursday. These exams are not easy and are not ones that should be studied for the night before or even 2 days before...but due to the circumstances, I was pretty much forced to do so. I was not allowed to take either of the exams later according to school policy - if you are not absent on the day of the exam, you will not be able to take it later (NOTE THIS!). I did not know this going into the weekend and returned on Monday to find out I had to cram for 2 ICARE exams. The next couple days were not pleasant but I managed to make it through with better than average grades that I did not expect to achieve. For this I am proud of myself.

Then, to end the week, I was inducted into Rho Chi, which is the honors fraternity in pharmacy school. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Newton (we all love him), and a very nice luncheon that was catered for us and our guests. To get accepted into Rho Chi, you must be in the top 20% of your class. It is a great honor to be in it and I am happy my hard work paid off!

This coming week is flamingo flocking week for my fraternity, Kappa Epsilon. During this week, teachers and students pay KE members to "flock", or set up plastic flamingos, in other teachers or students yards. It's really pretty funny and teachers love it. I'm looking forward to finally having a week of fun and no exams! BUT before that, I have to study for a top200 quiz tomorrow. Time to start...

Overdue Update

2010-03-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

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

2010-03-25T11:13:00.006-04:00

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

2010-03-05T10:19:00.003-05:00

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*

Blizzard 2010

2010-02-11T08:50:00.003-05:00

So...today is our 5th consecutive day of NO SCHOOL due to 2 snow storms back to back. The first storm was probably the biggest one that Winchester has had in a loooong time. It is the biggest one that I have seen, that's for sure. The accumulation near us was 30 inches of heavy, wet snow. The second storm was only about 5-6 inches, but was accompanied by high winds and gusts which drifted a lot of the snow onto roads and created blizzard conditions. So, I have pretty much been stuck at home with our new pup for the past week. My husband has been diligently shoveling our cars out over and over and also shoveling a deck and a portion of the back yard for the pup. Good thing I have him!

Because we haven't been able to get to school, the teachers and faculty have made a way for us to still get our lecture material either live or via iTunesU. My classes on Monday and Tuesday were recorded on Camtasia which is just a program that teachers record the audio of their lectures on and post on iTunesU. We can then download the audio and follow along on our slides. Yesterday, my ICARE course took place via Elluminate. This program was really interesting and worked pretty well. The teacher gave the lecture live while all of us students logged in from home (and I was in my PJs!). The lecture slides were also visible as the teacher went through them. We were able to ask questions as well either through a text box or via audio. It went pretty smoothly for the first time trying it out and I think my ICARE lecture today will also be held this way. I am happy that there is a way for us to keep up on the material for class without having to schedule make up classes or cut into our spring break time.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be back at class and I can actually SEE people again! That is definitely the weirdest part about this whole thing...I feel very isolated from the world. Things will be back to normal soon. Who knows how long this snow will be on the ground though! My guess is April...but hopefully we will get some really warm days that melt it before then :o)

Giving Back

2010-02-02T22:37:00.004-05:00

Wow is it already February? This semester is in full swing now. I have already taken my first exam too and I am currently studying for my second one. Besides exams another big thing for me personally that came to fruition was the Jubilee Kitchen Health Fair. It was a health fair held at a local soup kitchen here in Winchester that I organized with the help of many other people. As pharmacists we are in a field of work that is often about directly interacting with patients, and by volunteering we not only benefit the people we serve but we also hone our patient interaction skills.

We had been planning this health fair since November and to see it finally happen was great! The health fair was a collaborative effort between our school's chapters of Rho Chi, APhA-ASP, and SVSHP. Our target population may have little, if any access to health care, so the few services and brochures that we did provide were greatly appreciated. Initially we were unsure of whether or not they would be receptive to us. We didn't wear our white coats, so that we would seem more friendly and approachable. That, and our smiling faces, and helpful volunteers aided us in attracting about 80 people. Our most popular stations were our blood pressure screenings and our free giveaway table. Although going to a doctor and getting a prescription may not be a viable option for all of the patients we saw, as pharmacists we don't have to just rely on drug recommendations. Our educations are also about recommending non-drug lifestyle changes. The smiles and words of gratitude we received were truly appreciated. It felt like one of those days where I was having a real positive impact on other people. I hope that even after I leave for my rotations this event will be held and made even better than it started out to be.

Beginning the last semester of the P1 year.

2010-01-29T21:00:00.001-05:00

It has been a while since I have updated the P1 blog. The weather has been getting colder for the past few days. We are expecting another encounter with snow tomorrow. This might be a good motivator for me to stay home and study for our upcoming pharmacogenomics exam on Monday. I anticipate this semester to be quite intensive based on our schedule. There is an exam almost on a weekly basis, mainly from the course in pharmacogenomics or the IBHS series.

Another new interesting tidbit for us students in Ashburn is that we have finally moved to the new building. The new classroom can seat 46 people ideally, but the design of the room is best suited for 40 students. One row of seats doesn’t provide a good view of the presentation screen. The transition wasn’t smooth during the first week since there was no fridge, microwave, and vending machines for us to utilize. Also, the video conferencing system wasn’t working exactly in tiptop shape. The video signal would suddenly disconnect periodically. A new gimmick we have to get use to as well is that our microphones are always on. Any slight noise will be picked up and transmitted to the main campus.

During the second week of the semester, my classmates and I attended the Fraternity Round Robin event on the main campus. Each fraternity was given 15 minute for introductions and intermingling. The three professional pharmacy fraternities are Kappa Psi, Kappa Epsilon, and Phi Delta Chi. Also there is an honor fraternity called Rho Chi which, is limited to the top 20% of the class. Afterwards, each fraternity held a rush event in the following days.

Guess that will be it for this post and stay tuned for more updates.

Sleep Deprived

2010-01-28T15:07:00.011-05:00

This week has been the toughest week of my time at pharmacy school. Last Friday, my husband and I got our puppy, Lily. She is an 8 week old golden retriever mix and is definitely a handful. We got her Friday and we had our first ICARE exam yesterday. SO, in the midst of middle of the night potty breaks, hyper playing, potty training, crate training, and manner training...I also had to find time to study for the Respiratory ICARE exam PLUS a quiz in another class on the same day. Needless to say, it was the least prepared that I have ever felt for an exam. Luckily, it all turned out ok and I was able to get the grade that I wanted...I still am surprised with myself and have no idea how that happened!

Another thing that has been going on is rush week with all of the fraternities. This past week, we handed out our bids to the P1 and P2 class to people who may be interested in joining KE. Something that seems to happen during rush is that people tend to group together with their friends and join whatever their friends are joining. A lot of joining a fraternity is about joining the one that is right for you and that you would feel most passionate about. The large majority of people decided to pledge KY and PDC, and very few pledged KE. It is kind of disappointing for my pledgemaster partner and I, but I guess it means that I will have more free time that I anticipated which is great because I need to make time for the pup. Despite the low numbers, I am excited about who we are getting and I can't wait to see what KE does this semester with our events, fundraisers, and flamingo flocking in the spring. It's always a really good time :o)

Despite the exam yesterday, two exciting things did happen that made the day a bit better. First, I got an invitation to join Rho Chi, which is the honors fraternity at our school. They only take the top 20% of the class and I am thrilled that my hard work has paid off and I made the cut! The fraternity is highly thought of in our school and I am honored to be asked to be a part of it. That means that I am now in 5 organizations, and an officer in 3 of them. I never would have thought that I would be able to handle all of this time committment, but it actually isn't that bad. I still have time for myself, my husband, good grades, and now hopefully a puppy! The other exciting thing that happened was I got asked to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friends' wedding this coming New Years Eve. I was the first of my friends from back home to get married and it is exciting that now I get to go to one of their weddings and be a part of it!

Next week we have another ICARE exam, but in cardio...which I hear is more difficult than respiratory. I plan to start studying for that one tonight, so we will see how that goes. Time to get back to class!

Last Semester of Classes

2010-01-21T16:42:00.005-05:00

So last week was the first week of my last semester of classes ever! If you got a little confused by that last statement, I am basically saying I am almost done with pharmacy school classes! The classes that I have this semester consist of: pharmacy law, sterile compounding, patient assessment II, ICARE: GI/nutrition, ICARE: neuro/psychiatry, ICARE: musculoskeletal, institutional practice elective, and pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics III. So although this will be my last semester of classes it will not be my easiest.

In addition to classes some of the organizations I am involved in are also busier in the spring. A major example is Kappa Epsilon. This past week has been Greek Week at pharmacy school. At SU, pharmacy fraternities are not allowed to recruit new members until the spring semester. On the first day of Greek Week we have an event called Round Robin where interested 1st and 2nd year pharmacy students get a brief introduction to all three different fraternities that we have. Then each fraternity hosts an event on its own on a separate date so that prospective members get a better idea of what each one is about. Kappa Epsilon had a luau theme on Tuesday night with plenty of good food to enjoy and various activities that allowed the interested students to mingle with existing members. Although I think we should have done the limbo before we ate all that food.

Another organization I am involved with is Rho Chi. Rho Chi is an honors fraternity that recruits the top 20% of the P2 class during the spring semester of pharmacy school. In the not too distant future we will be sending invitations to these smart pharmacy students to join. This weekend we are holding a health fair in conjunction with the APhA-ASP (American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists). This health fair will be held at a local soup kitchen here in Winchester, where our target population probably does not receive proper health care. So it will be interesting to see how we can help them. I hope this will be a mutually beneficial experience, in that this under served population gets some health advice and that we pharmacy students can improve on our patient interaction skills.

Besides all this we will be finalizing our rotations for the upcoming P4 year. So as you can imagine although this will be my last semester of classes, it will be a very busy one.

Spring Semester: First Week of Classes

2010-01-17T12:58:00.004-05:00

The semester has begun. The first week of classes was pretty uneventful...but definitely hit me hard and made me start thinking about getting focused again. All of our classes require no introductions anymore (what undergrad calls "syllabus day") - unfortunately, there are no days like that in pharmacy school. This semester we have started ICARE, which is much dreaded by the P2's. It is more intense than other physiology and pharmacology classes we have had in past and combines all aspects of our difficult classes. So far, it hasn't been too terrible..but there's only been 1 week. The classes are longer blocks of time and more frequent so the material has the potential to build up pretty easily. We will see how that goes!

Another thing that has ruled my time on the first week back is planning for rush week which is next week. Myself and another member of my fraternity, Kappa Epsilon, have been planning both our time for the night of round robin on Monday and for our individual rush night for KE on Tuesday. The purpose of round robin is for those who may be interesting in joining a fraternity to see what they are all about. Each one has a different platform that they suport and it's up to individual preference with which one you think is the right fit. After the initial night of round robin, each fraternity has their own themed party night with dinner provided on the remaining nights of the week. Ours is Tuesday and the theme we chose is Luau. Because I am a new member coordinater, it is my responsibility, along with the other coordinator, to plan this night and all that comes with it. So...needless to say we have been super busy this week designing and printing flyers, handouts and invitiation, ordering food, planning games, and much more.

Other than planning for KE rush, I have been going back to my regular hours at CVS. This semester, my weekday to work is going to be Friday and I also will have to usually work some of Saturday and a few Sundays. Another big thing is next Friday, my husband and I are going to be getting a golden retreiver puppy! We are super pumped and can't wait for this much anticipated addition to our family. My schedule at school will allow me to come home and let her out frequently and my husband also will be working from home some days of the week...so we should be able to manage with everyone else going on as well. Can't wait! Ok, time to get a head start and begin studying for the first ICARE Respiratory exam - its only 10 days away!

Winter Break!

2010-01-04T11:04:00.002-05:00

Hello all -

Haven't written in a while. I have been caught up in the Holidays and fun times over Winter break. It has been wonderful to be relaxed and to have nothing to do in between work and errunds. My husband and I both worked for the first week and a half of break (I worked at CVS) and then we headed home for the next week and a half for the holidays. We had about 4 different Christmases with our two families and the extended part of those families all over the state of Pennsylvania (this happens when you are married). I was exhausting but fun. It was great to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law from New Hampshire who we seldom get to see.

Now there's one week left to break and I have a long list of things to do around the house. We just took our Christmas tree down yesterday and resituated the Christmas boxes in our storage space..It was sad. Things I have to do include thank you notes, cleaning the house, going to the bank, getting groceries (we are completely out), and other random things. Currently, I am on hold with the IBM parts department. My computer that the school leases to us has a dead battery. We were warned that we should replace this battery before the warrenty was up in July 2009 (1 year warrenty), but my summer was so crazy with vacations around that time that I forgot! So, I am stuch on hold and going to have to buy the replacement battery which I don't know the price to yet...

Another thing I have to do around the house is to puppy-proof it - we are going to be getting a puppy in about 3 weeks! She is a golden retriever and her name is Lily. We are super-excited and are going to be so exhausted in those first couple weeks! At least most of the rush time for fraternities will be over by the time we get her so I will have an ounce or two more of free time. My co-pledgemaster and I have been working on things over the break for the upcoming round robin and rush nights that are held during the second week of the spring semester. Each fraternity has a rush night where anyone who is interested in joining can come and meet the other members and see if that fraternity might be something they want to be a part of. Each fraternity has its own platform to offer. Our rush night is Luau themed with hula hoops and smoothies for those interested. We have to plan the whole night including the food, games, decorations, and apparel. After rush night, we send out bids and those who wish to join return the bids to us by a certain date. Then we start pledge meetings and so on. SO I will be kept pretty busy the first couple weeks of school...there may be no exams yet, but I will have rushing and a puppy to worry about instead. I can't wait!

Still on hold...I am going to work on some more stuff around the house. I work about 25 hours this week so I will have enough time to get all of these things done AND relax! I must enjoy winter break to its fullest!

Winter Break 2009

2009-12-21T01:33:00.002-05:00

Another semester has gone by, in fact my last didactic fall semester has come to an end. Now I am on winter break for another 3 more weeks. Thankfully finals week wasn't too bad, since our pharmacokinetics and professional practice management course finals were noncumulative. There was a brief snow scare that would have made things more complicated if our exams would have had to be rescheduled but thankfully it didn't end up having an impact on our exams.

I recently found out that 3 of my fourth year rotations will be taking place at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, which is something that I am extremely excited about. The closer I get to fourth year rotations the more enthusiasm I have. I don't have much to say about school now that we are on break. So Happy Holidays to all!

Completion of P1 Fall Semester

2009-12-11T16:00:00.002-05:00

Finally, I just finished my first semester in pharmacy school with my last final in Introduction to Pharmacy Practice. Overall, the finals weren’t so bad as I originally thought it would be. I thought Introduction to Pharmacy Practice was hard for me due to the specific details that I had to recall. I have a feeling that the final will be curved as it was for the midterm.

It feels like I just started school but I have already completed 1/8^th of my education. A long and rigorous journey still lies ahead. There will be more studying to look forward to as we hit more in-depth subjects. From pharmacogenomics (genetics and medication relationship) to individual organ systems, I will be expecting more interesting topics to absorb in the upcoming semester.

However, studying isn’t the only thing to look forward to next semester. I’m looking forward to the Phollies on April 29, which is a day to enjoy student made videos. Also, the Apple Blossom Festival is another activity that I look forward to experiencing for the first time. Unfortunately, the excitement will have to wait until we return from our month long break.

It is time for me to catch my flight back to California.

Have a happy holiday and new years everyone!

Nearing the end of Fall Semester

2009-12-05T21:02:00.002-05:00

Cold and beautiful is the two words that I would use to describe the weather today. It snowed, and boy, was it cold! Unfortunately, I didn’t stay outside for too long because of the weather and I had to study for finals. Next week is officially finals week for us. The school is considerate because they provide us an extra day for those last minute studying. It actually begins on Tuesday for this semester.

I just finished taking our anatomy and physiology lab final yesterday. Therefore, I have another 5 finals and 1 presentation to worry about for finals week this upcoming week. The lab exam was composed of two parts, one part is done electronically and the other part is written. The written exam focused on identifying the parts of bones and the eye while the electronic portion of the exam was a mixture of multiple choices and matching. Overall, the exam was representative of what we have been learning for the semester in the course and wasn’t too hard.

As for the other finals, we have one for the IBHS course that I have talked about in my previous post. There will also be finals for Patient Counseling/Communication, Pharmaceutics I (math calculations), Psychosocial Aspects of Disease, and finally Introduction to Pharmacy Practice. Our presentation is for our service-learning course. BJD wants to provide us with an opportunity to learn and develop a sense of community involvement through service learning.

That’ll be all for now since I have to return to my studies.

Finals!

2009-12-02T14:40:00.002-05:00

Again, this won't be a very long post - finals are right around the corner. This semester, I have 6 finals during finals week...a lot more than P1 year! We have finals from Tuesday to Friday, with Monday being a "study day". I have 2 finals Tuesday (Outpatient Pharmacy Lab and Pharmacology), one Wednesday (Pharmacokinetics), two Thursday (Outcomes and OTC), and one Friday (Biostats).

Because there are so many, I am having trouble figuring out where to start. I decided today that I would start with the first final and just go from there, even though the first finals are not necessarily the hardest ones. One thing that is very helpful though are the students in our class who make their own study guides for certain exams and then send them out to everyone to use. These are useful and I usually use them to compare to my own notes to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Immediately following my Friday final, me and 3 other girls in my class are driving to Charlotte, NC for a half-marathon. I have been training for the past couple months and am anticipating this race very much. It might be a little difficult after finals week (I'll be so exhausted!) but will feel good at the same time I'm sure. Then after that we have 4 weeks off for Christmas break! I will be spending half of the break in Winchester and half of the break at home in State College, PA.

Alright, time to study again.

Extremely Thankful This Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T14:04:00.005-05:00

One of the biggest things I am thankful for this year is getting my first choice for P4 year rotation cluster of Baltimore! On Tuesday right before we all headed off in our separate ways to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families and friends, e-mails were sent out to all P3 students notifying us of where we would spend our last year in pharmacy school. As I had mentioned in my earlier posting I was very anxious to see where I would end up, especially since there were rumors going around that some people would not get any of their top 3 choices. So when the e-mails were sent out on Tuesday lots of drama was to be seen. Some like me were ecstatic to get their rotation assignments, while others were caught by surprise due to their unexpected assignments. A quick peek at Facebook revealed who was sticking around in Winchester and who would have to move out come May. In a few weeks we will be deciding on the exact sites we want to go to within our rotation clusters.

But before I can get too excited about this upcoming May, there are a couple of weeks left in this semester and there is still all of spring semester too. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will have one more week of classes that will involve papers and presentations but thankfully no more tests (the university has a policy that professors are not allowed to give us tests the week before final exams). Some final exams will be cumulative and some will not be. Whenever I sit down to study for my cumulative finals it amazes me how much we covered in a semester and how quickly we have reached the end of the semester.

As always many, if not all, of our final exams will be on Perception, a computer program that locks you out of all other programs while it is in use. Since most of the exams are multiple choice, Perception can tell you what your grade is as soon as you submit your answers. I have mixed feelings about this. Sometimes I like having a period of not knowing how I did because the exam was hard and I have the mentality of "ignorance is bliss". But then again many other times knowing how I did instantaneously makes me feel like I can move on, past how I did (good or bad). Another good point of Perception is that it allows professors to see how students do statistically on exams. For example they can look at one specific question and see that only 25% of students selected the correct answer. This causes professors to evaluate whether or not the question was fair or not and if they deem it to be an unfair question then they may toss the question out. In this case I would say technology can be a student's friend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

More P1 Updates

2009-11-18T22:10:00.004-05:00

It is time for another quick update before I resume studying for our 2^nd exam next week in Integrated Basic Health Sciences (IBHS). For those of you who are not familiar with the course at the school, IBHS is a condensed course series in anatomy and physiology. It is divided into 3 modules and each of them lasts about 4 weeks. Each module is a 2-unit course and the exams are usually given every other week. At first, the pacing of the exams might be overwhelming for some, but I think it is beneficial in the end. This allows you to focus on a specific subject for each exam.

However, studying isn’t the only thing that we do. Last night, our student officers hosted a Thanksgiving potluck in the cafeteria at the Winchester campus. This was a big opportunity for the Ashburn students and the Winchester students to intermingle and show off our cooking skills. We had the opportunity to taste the various unique dishes of casseroles and 3 styles of turkey. Family members as well as some of our professors had even joined in the festivities.

Things have been quiet over here in Ashburn as all the professors have relocated to the new building. However, it would not be too long before we will be moving in as well. The students will be moving into the new building, which is two blocks down the road, for next semester. I still have not visited the building yet, but I heard it is still under construction. With the movement of the professor’s office, we have to bear another month of driving back and forth between the 2 buildings to speak with professors and retrieve our paperwork.

It’s is time for me to return to my studies on the central nervous system. Stay tuned for the next update on the life of a BJD P1.

Study Break

2009-11-15T19:19:00.002-05:00

Not writing much - just some updates. I am in the midst of studying for a pharmacology exam that we have on Tuesday.

This exam was supposed to be last Thursday, but sometimes if the professor feels that we are moving too quickly or the material was not explained clearly enough by a week before test time, they will consider pushing the exam back. In this case, we were not able to finish the material for the exam in time so we moved the exam from Thursday to Tuesday. It is nice that professors are conscious of the amount of time we have to learn such a large volume of material and that they do all they can to make sure you can cram it all in there in time.

After this exam on Tuesday, I have a presentation and paper due on Wednesday. My group in Biostats got picked to go for our end of the semester presentation on the first day available (that day being Wednesday). Our assignment was to write a research study as if you conducted it, minus the results section. The purpose is for us to use what we learned in class about statistics and research. In addition to the paper itself, we have to do a 15 minute presentation to the class about our study. Since we have this big exam on Tuesday, I am thinking Tuesday night will be devoted to presentation practice for this project. Once our presentation is over on Wednesday - I am in the clear until finals. That doesn't really mean much, but I will at least be able to enjoy Thanksgiving break a little bit. We have off from Wednesday the 25th to Friday the 27th for Thanksgiving break. Students who live close enough to home usually head there to have the big meal with their families (which is what I do). However, those that live flying distance away usually get together and have a big meal of their own - so either way, it is a nice holiday.

Ok - study break is over - more updates after this storm has passed.

Looking towards next semester

2009-11-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe that this semester is coming to an end. I only have 2 more large exams before finals week and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be growing. That said, it is already time to start looking towards next semester. This past week, our class schedules were posted for next semester. Then today, online registration for classes opened and we scheduled our regular classes which are pre-chosen for us, plus our elective choices. I decided to choose an elective called Drug and Relationship abuse because that kind of material seemed interesting to me.

Tomorrow, we have one of the last 2 big exams in nonprescription products (OTC). Writing this is actually my study break because there's definitely a lot of material that I need to cram in my head for this exam! It is not that the material is difficult, but the sheer volume of it and the number of drug names we have to remember is quite overwhelming.

Another thing that has been going on is that my husband and I decided we were ready for a dog and have decided to get a pup in January of 2010. The whole process has been very exciting and we can't wait to get her.

Speaking of looking forward to next semester...it is definitely going to be a busy one. With getting a puppy, co-organizing rush week and pledge events for new members of KE, and starting I-CARE, I am hoping I will have time to breathe! As a new member coordinator for KE, a lot of work is required between January and March to help teach the pledges about the organization and have them complete the required work for membership. It consists of creating a pledge book, being available for weekly meetings, organizing the rush night, getting together bids, matching bigs with littles, ordering their shirts and pins, having various social events, and coordinating the rest of the fraternity with their iniation and induction. YEAH. Lots of work! But I know it will be lots of fun because I have a great co-new member coordinator to help me. We are really looking forward to working more with the other fraternities as well to promote comradery among us all.

Ok - now time to focus on the more immediate future - OTC study time.

On pins and needles

2009-11-02T11:45:00.001-05:00

This past week many P3s were meeting with the experiential learning coordinator to discuss their P4 year of rotations. I personally started thinking about rotations from the beginning of pharmacy school but especially since the first day of our P3 year. Rotations are where we get practical experience in the pharmacy world. We start to apply and utilize all the pharmacy education we have had for the past 3 years. It’s also the year where many people firmly decide what they want to do with their pharmacy careers. Experiences in the community setting may lead one to pursue a career as a retail pharmacist, while others may have wonderful experiences working in the hospital setting. The first step of planning for our P4 year rotations is deciding where we want to do our rotations based on geography. The school has 6 geographical clusters to choose from. Some are more competitive than others, so waiting to hear where one will be located is a tense process. Hopefully by Thanksgiving break geographical assignments will be posted and the next phase of planning for rotations can start. I myself have this constantly in the back of my mind and I need to remind myself to focus on my current courses instead of worrying about rotations.

Speaking of future steps to becoming a pharmacist, a major one is taking the NAPLEX. The NAPLEX is taken after graduating from pharmacy school and is an absolute necessary requirement to being a licensed pharmacist. Recently the school announced that recent the 2009 graduates had a 100% pass rate in taking the NAPLEX exam. It is now two years in a row that all Shenandoah pharmacy graduates have passed the NAPLEX during the May to August testing window! It’s always good to know that our education here at Shenandoah has fully prepared us for standardized exams like the NAPLEX.

P1 Student Introduction

2009-11-01T22:30:00.001-05:00

Greetings Everyone!

My name is David Ngo and I am a first year pharmacy student at BJD. I graduated from the University of California of San Diego (UCSD) with a degree in Pharmacological Chemistry. After graduation, I was working as a pharmacy clerk for two years at the UCSD Medical Center. So far, I have been generally pleased with the course work and the social atmosphere at the school.

I was attracted to this school because of its small size and its embracement of technology. For instance, lectures are telecasted from the main campus in Winchester to the satellite site in Ashburn and vice versa. Sixteen classmates and I are located in the Ashburn facility owned by George Washington University. Major advantages of being on the satellite campus are 24 hour access to the facility and the opportunity to visit Washington DC by the free GWU shuttles with out charge. Unfortunately, the satellite class is only for the first year and I’ll be joining the rest of my colleagues of about 60 at the main campus for my remaining years.

Stay tuned for future posts on the life of a first year pharmacy student at BJD.

Business school or pharmacy school?

2009-10-27T13:14:00.002-04:00

Part of the curriculum here at BJD involves courses that are not so heavy on the scientific or even healthcare aspect of pharmacy, but rather the business side of things. I personally have always had an aversion to business. I understand its importance but would rather leave that to someone else to worry about. I would prefer to focus my energy on the healthcare side of pharmacy. Now that I have stated my biases, at times I feel like many of the topics we cover are focused on business principles rather than pharmacy principles.

For example currently we have a class titled “Professional Practice Management”. I think its name could easily be changed to “Business Management”. Much of the lectures we have had in this class make me wonder at times if I have mistakenly enrolled in a business class. Case in point some titles of our lectures in that class are: “Business Plan—Location Analysis”, “Marketing”, and “Inventory Control” among others. In fact a major assignment for this class is a group project where we must come up with a detailed business plan for opening up an independent pharmacy. In this project we tie together the various elements we have been presented about the business side of pharmacy. Some parts of this project are more interesting to me e.g. designing a lay-out for our pharmacy, while others make me grateful that this is a group effort and not just me working on it. For anyone who is interested in owning and operating an independent pharmacy or even working in the business area of pharmacy for a large pharmacy corporation then these kinds of assignments and courses should be very welcoming. I on the other hand have to remind myself that while I highly doubt that I will be operating my own independent pharmacy in the future, who knows one day I may find this information very valuable.

Among other things like the P2 class, our P3 class has an exam every week from now until Thanksgiving Break. I personally greatly appreciate the spaced out exams (it creates much less stress). In fact we will be having our first ICARE Hematology/Oncology exam this week. Like our other ICARE courses, we had been expecting a bonus quiz to earn a few extra points for cushioning our midterm grades. However, by today many people had given up hope that we would get one. Yet we were surprised with one first thing in class. I wish I could say that the material on the pop bonus quiz was stuff I knew inside and out, however that was not the case. On a brighter note, the bit of studying I had done paid off a little. So between now and Friday I will have blood and cancer on my mind in anticipation of our exam.

Thankfully Phi Delta Chi will be hosting “Carnival for a Cause” right after the exam, where they will be raising money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. One of the things I am truly looking forward to is making my own caramel apple. But I think the highlight will be seeing a professor get a pie in his or her face. At one point or another I think all students after an exam fantasize about professors getting hit in the face with a pie.

1 Exam Per Week

2009-10-24T13:33:00.002-04:00

As seen in the previous post - last week was the Kappa Epsilon breast cancer awareness survivor's dinner. It was put on by the current KE president-elect, as it is each year. It was very well done and the survivors really enjoyed themselves. There was a raffle with a lot of great prizes, and a buffet with great food. The flowers on each table were beautiful and it was just a very classy dinner! The speaker was a survivor and she came in to the theme of Rocky with pink boxing gloves, a pink robe, and pink streaks in her hair. It was a very good motivational speech and I had a great time - it was a nice break from school for sure.

From this point on, the P2's have 1 exam per week until Thanksgiving break. Then there's 1 week that is the calm before finals week. This past week, we had a nonprecription products quiz that is based on the first half of the material that will be on the next exam. This coming week, we have a pharmacokinetics recitation due on Tuesday (which is like a long homework assignment) and then a pharmacokinetics exam on Thursday. I have to work tonight at CVS from 3-10, so I will do the recitation and the bulk of my studying tomorrow and Monday after class. I think the following week we have our nonprescription products exam, and then the week after is pharmacology. Having 1 exam a week is definitely not as bad as midterm time when there are 3 per week, but it still forces you to always have something in the back of your mind.

Another class we have, Biostats, requires us to form a group of 5-6 people and write our own research study. My group decided to get a head start on this project and we have been working on it since last week. We hope to be the first group to present so we can get that huge project over-with and off of our plate before finals start coming around.

The main campus also offers IM sports which pharmacy students can participate in. Right now, IM soccer is going on and each class in our school has their own team. The P2 team, Rx Assassins, beat the P1 team last week in a very exciting game. I was on the soccer team last year as a P1 (they always need girls to play) but soccer isn't really my thing so I opted out this year. It is still fun to go and cheer though :)

Alright, time to get ready for work.

Preparing for serious situations and fighting breast cancer

2009-10-17T21:07:00.003-04:00

Well I know it’s been a while since my last blog post so before it gets any later I guess it’s time for an update of what P3 year has been like so far. Last time I wrote about being in the middle of midterms. Right now is a nice time in the school year, where we don’t have any immediate exams so my days are not all about studying for an upcoming midterm. With that said though, it would be naïve to think that even though there is not an imminent exam I can completely ignore schoolwork. I still have to study new material as it is being taught and not leave it to day long cram sessions before the exam, otherwise I would be setting myself up to do poorly.

Thankfully after all the intense mid-term studying we had Fall Break, where we have a Monday and Tuesday off. Some people spend this time just catching up on sleep and life, others like me travel to other places leaving all thoughts of pharmacy school behind for a little while. I went up to visit friends in Minnesota, which although it was colder than expected (they had snow even with their trees’ leaves still being green) I had a good time nonetheless. On the way back from Minnesota I witnessed an interesting and intense situation.

My flight out of Minnesota was bright and early at 7 am. Getting there proved to be a little difficult since there was an accident on the main road to the airport, but after all my rushing and running I made it onto the plane in the nick of time. As the plane was taxiing down the runway to take off the lady in front of me started to tap an elderly woman sitting next to her to wake her up. However the elderly woman was not responding, the younger woman even called out her name several times but the woman would not come to. Then the younger woman was calling for help with a panic in her voice that I have rarely heard before. The flight attendants rushed over and the younger woman explained that she felt the elderly woman all the sudden shake and then go unconscious and how the elderly woman was unable to wake-up. So the flight attendants immediately asked if there was a doctor or nurse on board and thankfully there was. The nurse came over from her seat and saw that the lady had a pulse and was breathing. By now the pilot had been contacted and asked to return to the gate so that paramedics could come on board. At one point the elderly lady did regain consciousness and when she was asked if she knew where she was she did respond “airplane”. But when the paramedics were transferring her to a wheelchair, she lost consciousness a second time. This experience taught me that one should be confident in the first aid training and CPR techniques that one is taught. In situations like mine it may be possible that there is no nurse or physician around to help and someone else may need to step in. Pharmacists should be prepared not just for routine patient encounters but also urgent encounters such as this one.

Later on this past week I helped fellow pharmacy students with their training for the real world. In an effort to better prepare pharmacists for encountering patients first year pharmacy students take part in a patient counseling assessment as part of a communications course. They are told to look-up information about a certain drug, such as: route of administration, frequency of dosage, indication, side effects, storage, etc. One of the organizations that I am a part of, Rho Chi, had practice patient counseling sessions with the first year students. From my previous experience I know that with practice people become more confident and thus do better on the actual patient counseling assessment, which is why we decided to offer such a service to the first year students. I firmly believe that in order to improve pharmacy as a profession we need to help one another be better individual pharmacists and this was one way to do so.

Last but not least this short week ended with Kappa Epsilon’s Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month Dinner. This is a dinner where we raise funds to donate to a breast cancer charity. We also had a breast cancer survivor come and speak about her experience. Many people work hard to put this event together as was evident by the decorations and coordination present. Breast cancer is a platform issue for Kappa Epsilon, so not only do we have this dinner but we also sell t-shirts. At health fairs we even provide informative pamphlets about breast cancer and the proper way to conduct a self-exam and other facts to be aware of in regards to breast cancer. I think the dinner turned out quite well. I even left with a free vase of lovely flowers.

Time to Exhale

2009-10-13T11:36:00.002-04:00

It is Tuesday, October 13th, the second day of fall break. It's finally time to breathe! It felt great to sleep in until 9:30 for the past two weekdays. My 3 exams last week went pretty well and I am just happy to have them behind me!

This past weekend my parents and aunt/uncle came to visit me at my husband and I's new townhouse in Stephens City (about 5 miles south on Winchester). We had a really good weekend - went to Three Fox Vineyards which is a winery near Sky Meadows State Park. They were having an event where they made lunch available and had alpaca's transported to the vineyard. They had a place where you could buy alpaca clothing and it was very interesting and different. After the winery we went to some local shops and then out to dinner at IJ Canns, which is an American Grille with very good food.

Sunday we went to Marker-Miller farms where they were having an Apple Festival. We ate apple cider donuts and picked tons of apples for my parents to take home with them. It was a very relaxing visit and I am glad I finally had time to spend with family and not have to be worrying about tests.

This coming week I don't have any tests or quizzes so I am good to go until next weekend. This Friday, KE is having a dinner for breast cancer survivors called "Fight Like A Girl". The president-elect of KE has to put on this dinner every year in the month of October (Breast Cancer awareness month). I have helped the president-elect a great deal with this dinner and I am looking forward to it a lot. Members of KE helped put together raffle baskets for those attending and this Thursday we will put together flower vases for all of the tables, among many other small tasks - so needless to say, it will still be a busy week.

This coming weekend is my weekend to work and next week the quizzes start up again...break is always short and sweet and then things start right back up!

AHH MIDTERMS!!

2009-10-05T16:37:00.002-04:00

So - 2 midterms down from last week...and 3 to go for this week. I am taking a study break to write this post.

Last week we had a pretty difficult Nonprescription Products exam on Tuesday - it went pretty well for me, but the hard part was the sheer volume of information. There seemed to be sooo much stuff we needed to know! It was hard to cram it all in my brain! At least the material is interesting and it can be applied almost immediately if you work in a retail pharmacy. Then last Friday we had our Biostats exam - this is taught by two professors who each sort of focused on a different aspect of biostats. Half of the exam was about research methods and sampling techniques, while the other half was more about anaylzing data using descriptive statistics.

This week, my three exams are in Pharmacotherapy Outcomes, Intro to Healthcare Management (an elective), and Pharmacology. The outcomes exam is tomorrow and I feel pretty comfortable with that material. The elective exam I think will not be too difficult, but it will probably have some good thinking questions that require your own personal thoughts and perspectives on important issues dealing with healthcare management. Finally, pharmacology - I am nervous! The material for our last exam in pharmacology was taught by a different professor than it is now. The new professor has a completely different teaching style and it is difficult to get used to. Not to mention, the material itself has also gotten more difficult. I am doing my best right now to just take a deep breath, step back, and think logically about the material. The key is to take a little bit at a time and try to understand things on your own terms. He is going to have some review sessions for us this week so we can ask him questions if we have any - which I think will be helpful.

After these three exams...it's practically FALL BREAK! We do not have class next Monday and Tuesday and I am sooo looking forward to it. My parents and aunt/uncle are going to come down from PA to visit my husband and I. It should be really fun. There is also an Open House for prospective pharmacy applicants at our school this Saturday which I will be speaking on a Q&A panel for. I went to one of the open houses before I applied and it was very helpful.

OK - that's all I have time for. Next time I write I will be de-stressed! Can't wait!

In the midst of midterms

2009-10-01T20:28:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since I last wrote, but it has been a busy last few days. Right now as P3s we are in the midst of our first round of midterms. So far we have had 2: one in our ICARE Endocrinology/Reproduction (ICARE Endo/Repro) class and another in ICARE Infectious Disease. The ICARE Endo/Repro exam was all about diabetes and a little about hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and adrenal gland issues. Our ICARE Infectious Diseases exam was all about bugs and drugs. Whoever came up with the naming scheme for the various microbes out there did not think of us poor students who would be required to learn all those names.

Both of these exams were computerized exams. In undergrad I never had computerized exams, so it took some getting used to when I first got to SU. I am the kind of test taker that underlines, circles and crosses things out on my exam, so not being able to do that was a big change. At first I was intimidated by not being able to use my good old techniques for taking tests. However, they do give us scratch paper to write things on during the exam if we want to. I remember after my first computerized exam I felt better about taking tests on a computer. Honestly though, I would prefer the old paper and pencil versions. A benefit or drawback (depending on how you think you did) of computerized exams are that you get your grade as soon as you click a little button labeled “Submit” and then your grade pops up with all the mistakes you made. And then immediately you proceed to chastising yourself for stupid mistakes made or rejoice in the fact that you did so well.

So that’s it for now, sorry it’s shorter than normal but I’ve got more exams to study for.

Midterm Time

2009-09-27T13:54:00.002-04:00

I can barely fit this post into my schedule! I went home to PA this weekend for the PSU vs. Iowa game (we lost - not happy) and just got back into town 2 hours ago. I have 2 midterms this week and 3 the following week so needless to say - it will be very busy!

This past week we had our first kinetics exam. We have not gotten them back yet, but I feel like I did fairly well - definitely had to study for it though. On Tuesday we have our first Nonprescription products (OTC) exam and then Friday we have our Biostats exam. The biostats exam used to be on Wednesday, but if the class can get a unanimous vote, the exam can be changed to a later date. This made it a lot easier on us as far as study time for both exams goes.

Since we already had a quiz in OTC, I know the first 4 lectures pretty well. Today I plan on getting through at least the next 3 and then doing the last one tomorrow. I don't like to save it all for the last minute, but I know tomorrow is going to be a late night.

This past Saturday was the annual Pharmacy Softball Game - where all of the students and faculty play a game together at Jim Barnett Park. I am sad I missed it this year but I am sure it was a lot of fun.

Well sorry to keep it short but I really better get to this OTC material...let's hope all goes well!

Extracurriculars

2009-09-19T16:43:00.003-04:00

This week has been quite interesting. As you have heard from the last post, there was a commotion about parking that broke out during the middle of class. Ticket officers who have not visited our school in 5 years decided to ticket all students in the parking lot this week. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with us. The tickets were for $30 each, plus you would have to pay an additional $115 dollars to get a parking pass for our (unmarked) lot. The outcome of the issue has yet to be determined - no one knows if we need to get these passes or if an alternative pass will be suitable. Some students have gone so far as to start a petition stating that such ticketing is outrageous because no sign marks the lot and it is not written on the SU parking map that our lot requires a pass. We will see what happens with this one!

This week SU also hosted a free bowling night for all students. My friends and I definitely took advantage of this, especially because it was on the night after our first exam. It is held at a local bowling alley and students pretty much get the whole place to themselves from 9-11. All games and shoes are included in the package so you wouldn't have to spend a penny unless you wanted food or drink. Another place where you might spend money is to pick and play your favorite songs - which is something my friends and I often can't help ourselves with. Overall, it was a great night of release after a tough week of studying leading up to our first big exam...

...Speaking of the exam, it went really well for me, and it seems like it went well for a lot of other people too because the average was an 88%! I definitely felt like I grasped the material well and wasn't too worried going into it, but then afterwards I was surprised and pleased with my score. It only motivates me to keep up the good work and continue trying to do my best.

This weekend there were a lot of little assignments that needed to get done. We had kinetics homework, biostats homework, outpatient lab prelab and 20 top 200 drugs to memorize, and a kinetics exam to study for. I also had to fill out my application for a leadership fraternity called Phi Lambda Sigma that is due on Monday by 5pm. This involved updating my CV and completing their application which involved a table to fill in and 2 short answer questions. I hope I get in!

Well - kinetics test is on Thursday - time to start studying...

Blood Pressure and Parking Issues… What a Week!

2009-09-18T10:33:00.002-04:00

Here at BJD we have a new course called “Standardized Patient Assessment Laboratory I”. It’s not a brand new course, but really a merging of two courses that were previously taught. In this lab we practice writing SOAP notes and learn new assessment skills. This week the skill we were working on was blood pressure. Now my past experiences at taking someone’s blood pressure has always been to hook up the patient to an automatic machine that pretty much did everything for me as long as the cuff was properly placed on the patient’s arm. In this class though the professors expected us to be less reliant on technology (for once) and to take the blood pressure with a stethoscope and a syphgmomanometer (don’t ask me to pronounce that).

I was kind of excited about this because it would be my first chance to legitimately use my brand new stethoscope that had been sitting in my closet for a while. So when it came time to actually take the blood pressure I executed the overall technique quite well, but for one hitch…I couldn’t actually hear the blood rushing back into the blood vessels when I was releasing the pressure from the cuff. Unfortunately that is not a minor detail, since without actually hearing the necessary sounds, even if I do everything else completely correctly, it won’t matter. So my poor partner had her blood pressure taken more than once, while each time I earnestly listened for the “thud” sound that I was supposed to hear. That is definitely a skill that I will be getting more practice in. So if you see me walking around with a stethoscope and a syphgmomanometer, you have been warned.

For another one of my courses, “Leadership by Design”, I am required to answer three questions on a daily basis. One of them is “What surprised me today?” Some days I honestly don’t have anything to say. Well on Tuesday I had something to write: cars in the parking lot were being ticketed in what I think is the first time I ever remember any cars being ticketed here at BJD. The level of upset and surprise was evident on people’s immediate Facebook status updates. Cars without a Shenandoah University (SU) parking permit were being ticketed and unfortunately that was a great deal of cars. One of the reasons that not everyone bought a parking permit is that our pharmacy school is located on a different side of town than the main campus, so they didn’t see a need to buy a parking permit since we don’t really use the main campus parking lots. Unfortunately this is an example of a disconnect that exists between main campus and the Health Professions Building (HPB), where not only the pharmacy school is located but also other health related majors too. Our location is close to Winchester Medical Center (WMC) which not only for us students is an ideal location, but also for the faculty whose practice sites are the WMC. On the other hand it has the drawback of being detached from the main campus.

Last but not least I wanted to mention the departure of one of the best professors I have had thus far at BJD, Dr. Phipps. In my P2 year he taught Pharmacology and a course called ICARE: Cardiology (a therapeutics and pharmacology course about diseases related to the cardiovascular system). At first it took a while to get used to his teaching style since he didn’t rely on PowerPoint presentations the way many other professors here at BJD do. But once I got used to that I really felt like I was learning a great deal from him. What I think made him a good professor was not only his skill at conveying his knowledge of pharmacology and cardiovascular issues but his fairness as well. He did his best to stay true to whatever promises he made. This week we had our last lecture with him in another course. Next week he will be leaving BJD to join the faculty at another university, their gain is our loss.

Who said this was going to be easy?

2009-09-17T15:32:00.002-04:00

As I am sure every one who has every graduated from high school, college, graduate school, pharmacy school, or a residency (maybe more that one of all of these), I am not alone in receiving my fair share of advice about how my life and my job would be this next year. For those students out there thinking about residency, believe me...it will be one (or more) of the toughest and maybe most exciting years of your life. And, yes you will be exhausted by the end! So as I was finally finishing the second year of residency, several mentors told me, "don't worry, your first year of faculty after this will seem easy!" I was warned that things would pick up quickly after the first year or two and then be full swing after that, but that I should enjoy the "slow pace" in the beginning. All I can ask is "Where did those faculty members do their first years?", because I have hit the ground running here at BJD! Which, for someone who has not been used to blogging in the past, has put the task of writing about all of what I'm doing low on my exceeding long and ever growing To Do list.

These first few weeks have been a time of adjustment for both myself and the students. It is always interesting to see how students react to a new member of the faculty. We always get the "bad wrap" as the hard teacher because we have expectations and standards that may be different than what the students are used to or expect. Hopefully, the students will see that all our hard work is for their best interest.

So as the first month here at BJD is finishing up, I am settling in to my clinic and lab sessions, finding my way around the building, and learning that life as a first year faculty member is much more fast paced than I was advised. It is exciting and scary all at once to keep up with everything that needs to be done and I know even more will be added to my plate as the months continue. The comforting fact is I know that I love my students, patients and colleagues so I can take this all in stride.

My advice to all of you reading this...take all the advice you get with a grain of salt! ;) But, more importantly, find a career you love and you will be happy going to work everyday! I can definitely say that I am not bored. :)

Website Updates

2009-09-12T20:04:00.003-04:00

This week was a nice short week, but for some reason it still felt long to me. I had several meetings to attend had to update the two websites that I am webmaster for so they would be ready to be launched.

The first website I worked on was for the class of 2012. My husband works for Apple and knows how to create websites and such, so he helps me with a lot of the code part of it. This site was created at the start of last year and since then all that needs to be done are the updates. Updating this site basically consisted of updating the calendar, the officers, and announcements. This year our president and treasurer are different than for the p1 year. Also, we added a social chair because we plan to have more events as our class has grown closer together.

The other website is for APhA. This site is replacing the old APhA site and has a nice clean look to it. New pictures were taken of all of the officers and uploaded this week and I finally finished up the site on Wednesday night and the webmaster of the pharmacy school uploaded the new site on Thursday and it went live! I haven't heard much feedback yet, but from what the people I have shown it to have said, it seems like people like the way it looks. I also created a facebook page for APhA and invited all of the current members to become fans. This way, I can send messages about upcoming events and announcements to members in a way that will not clog their email and by way of a venue they are used to.

This Friday was the P1's White Coat Ceremony. This is where all of the P1's gather in one of the larger class rooms and are presented with their first/official white coat. The coats are more form fitting and better quality than most retail coats and also have The Bernard J Dunn School of Pharmacy embroidered on them. Parents and siblings usually come out for the ceremony as it is a symbolic night - the start of the road to becoming a pharmacist. It seems like such a long time ago that I got my white coat! After the ceremony, celebration is definitely necessary.

This week we also had our first OTC quiz. It was only 10 points and on paper (usually exams are on perception, an online testing system). I did very well and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I like to be better safe than sorry when it comes to studying, especially for the first quiz or exam. This coming week I have my first exam in Pharmacology. So far, this class has focused on enzymes, binding/response curves, and several other topics. I really make an effort to pay attention in class so that when it comes time to study, I am more familiar with the material. I have not yet started studying for this exam (it's on Thursday), but it is on my list for things to do tomorrow. Hopefully it will go as well as my first quiz!

Outside of class

2009-09-12T18:12:00.001-04:00

Another week has gone by, although this one seemed faster than most since we had Labor Day off. This week was filled with all our typical classes and at the moment nothing really stands out to mention from class. So I think I will talk about activities that occurred outside of class this time.

On Thursdays we have something called “Seminar Hour” where no pharmacy students have class at that time so that they can attend an organization’s presentation or activity. There are various organizations that are active here at BJD, from the professional e.g. APhA-ASP (American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists) to the fraternities e.g. Kappa Epsilon and others. Every week a different organization hosts the seminar hour. This Thursday APhA-ASP was hosting. They had Cindy Warner, President Elect of VPhA (Virginia Pharmacists Association) and Tim Musselman, Executive Director of VPhA come and talk to us about what VPhA does and what we as students can do to become active with this state level organization that represents pharmacists of all fields. In addition to that they also came to present Jamie Larson, Michelle Chandler, Julie Horak and I with a plaque for winning the state-wide Self Care Competition.

The Self Care Competition was where we represented BJD and competed against Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Hampton University School of Pharmacy and Appalachian College of Pharmacy. The competition was held back in August at VPhA’s Annual Convention in Virginia Beach, VA. So the four of us were very excited and dressed up ready to be presented with our plaque… but there was no plaque. For some reason the plaque wasn’t ready yet. So we just took our pictures with the representatives of VPhA and sat back in our seats empty-handed. At least we took pictures at the competition to prove we had won. Since we won this past year, it can now be said that every Virginia pharmacy school has won the Self Care Competition at least once.

Later that same day was the Greek Olympics. At BJD we have three pharmacy fraternities: Kappa Epsilon, Phi Delta Chi and Kappa Psi. I personally am a member of Kappa Epsilon, so if I do seem biased towards them there’s a reason for it. Every fall we hold Greek Olympics, where all three fraternities and anyone from the P1 class (first year pharmacy students) who wants to participate, compete in outdoor games. The first year pharmacy students are their own separate team because they are not recruited to join any fraternities until the spring semester of their first year. So on Thursday practically everyone who was a member of one of the three fraternities was wearing their fraternity’s t-shirt, Greek letters were everywhere. The games we played consisted of a three-legged relay race, hula hooping, egg holding relay race, water balloon toss, spinning with your head on the bat then running relay race (if you know the official name please enlighten me), and the classic tug of war. Last year Phi Delta Chi had won, so there was an air of competitiveness between us (Kappa Epsilon) and Phi Delta Chi. To ensure that games were fair, each fraternity’s president was keeping track of points for all the groups.

Kappa Epsilon is filled with more girls than the other fraternities but we sent out our guys to represent us in the hula hoop competition (ironic isn’t it?). Although they did respectably we ended up losing that competition (no surprise there). However we did redeem ourselves in the water balloon toss, since we came in first place in that event. Of all the games the one that gets the most competitive is tug of war. Kappa Epsilon and Phi Delta Chi were the first two groups to compete. Although I have to say Kappa Epsilon really tried, Phi Delta Chi still beat us. Overall it was a day of friendly competition that ended with Phi Delta Chi winning the whole thing again, but we placed a respectable second. There’s always next year!

Let The Exams Begin

2009-09-08T11:26:00.007-04:00

Labor day weekend was an amazing break before the exams begin for the P2 year. I went home to visit my family and attend a PSU football game with my husband, Gannon. The game was great - definitely a weird feeling to be an alumni though, I'm still not used to it. Sunday was a day of family and food. Definitely ate A LOT! Then on Labor Day, Gannon and I drove home and attended a "crab fest" that a couple of P2's were hosting. Tons of freshly steamed crabs right from Maryland - YUM! But after party time was over...it was back to the grind. It is definitely time to start cracking down on the studying.

This Thursday we have an exam "teaser" - a quiz in Nonprescription drugs. It is on self care, fever/headache/pain, vaginal infections, and menstruation/PMS/contraception. The material is pretty dense and there are only 10 quiz questions. This of course means that all of the material must be learned just to make sure the 10 multiple choice and true/false questions can be answered correctly. Love it when that happens....

I find that the best way for me to study for these types of tests - the ones that require a lot of memorization of facts and numbers - is to re-write the lectures into a notebook. The simple act of writing them all out makes me focus on the words and sort of become familiar with the material. If there's a reading to go along with the lecture - I add that into the written notes too by writing out important points from the reading or things that emphasize what was said in lecture. Then, I commit everything to memory after I go over the notes I have written with a highlighter. Before the test I read the highlighted notes about twice more and I am good to go. If there's something that is particularly hard to remember, I write it again until it sticks. This is my method and I have seen others use it in my class too...but everyone has a different way that they study.

So my plan is to get everything re-written today and tonight and possbily go over half with the highligher. Then tomorrow I'll finish up in time for the quiz Thursday. I have tried studying further in advance but I have found that I actually can retain the information easier if I study closer to the test day...even though "cramming" is not usually the recommended way to study.

Just got an email today that the BJD SOP softball game is scheduled to take place September 26th. I won't be able to go because I will be going to another home PSU game - but I have heard it is really fun! All of the pharmacy classes (P1 - P4s) get together and play a softball game with the faculty and staff. It is fun to see the faculty outside of class and have some fun. I think it definitely has an influence on how tight students and faculty are at SU.

Another fun event I will have to miss because of work is the Greek Olympics this Thursday. This is where the three Greek fraternities in our school organize food and games for all students and they can come out and watch us battle it out. This year, my fraternity, Kappa Epsilon, was responsible for getting the food - our president took care of that and got food donated from Walgreens. The other two fraternities, Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Chi, are organizing the games. I wish I could go!

Well, I think it's about time I start studying.

Earning Labor Day Off

2009-09-06T11:58:00.002-04:00

I can’t remember the last time I looked forward to Labor Day as much as I did this year. I think this year was the first time in a long time that school was busy enough that I feel I have earned having a Monday off. The amount of material we covered in these first 2 weeks was enough to earn us a bonus pop quiz or two. Though thankfully, our quiz in Infectious Disease ICARE (an intense therapeutics and pharmacology course) wasn’t really a “pop” quiz, since Dr. Johnson warned us that it would be coming.

Given that we did get fair warning I think everyone in the class studied hard for that first bonus quiz. Since the quiz was on Dr. Newton’s (a professor that has been with the pharmacy school since day 1 and one of our first professors) material, he gave us our quizzes in his trademark green alternating with white sheets. He does this so that even if you are tempted to cheat, it wouldn’t do you any good, since your neighbors will have quizzes different from yours (not that he really believed we would cheat, but more so to remove the temptation to do so). He was a professor we had in our P1 year, so seeing those green and white sheets again for a moment made me realize how far I’d come since my first year. So anyway we answered the dozen or so questions, hopeful that our studying would have helped us earn a few bonus points. Unfortunately however, we later learned that the most bonus points we could earn was 1 point regardless if we answered all the questions correctly or just the minimum of five questions. Yeah that caused a minor stir, since many felt that the amount of studying they put into it should have been rewarded with more bonus points.

Something that probably caused an even bigger stir was the school’s final decision regarding how to handle final exam rescheduling for students who would miss some final exams in order to attend ASHP’s (American Society of Health-system Pharmacists) Mid-year convention in Las Vegas. Initially as the secretary for SVSHP (Student chapter of the Virginia Society of Health-system Pharmacists, a branch of ASHP at our school) I had sent out an inquiry as to how many students were interested in attending the convention. I got back dozens of replies, however many students were reluctant to make a firm commitment because of not knowing how the missed finals would be handled. I know many students hoped for the finals being given earlier, so that they could go to the convention without the dark cloud of studying for finals hanging over them while they were in Las Vegas. But when the school formally decided that only two days of finals would be excused and those missed finals (which for the P3 class was a total of 3 finals) would all have to be made up on the Saturday right before winter break, many students were upset. So when I sent out the next e-mail asking “who was still interested in going?”, not surprisingly many students no longer were. I personally do hope to do a residency and believe that by going in my P3 year I will be better prepared for next year when I will be formally applying. So the school’s decision to lump three exams all on one day really didn’t help my dread of finals week. I think I found a way to make it work, but until I buy that ticket to Vegas and actually register for the conference, nothing is set in stone. Right now I am thinking that I’ll probably stay one day less than I originally planned to in Vegas, so that I only need to make up one exam as opposed to three, since the thought of having three exams in one day, is just asking for unnecessary stress and study-induced insomnia.

Another contributing factor to why I looked forward to this long weekend was the fact that I felt like I had spent a lot of time in meetings this past week. I think being involved in school in non-academic ways makes one a well-rounded person and enriches the whole college experience. So I don’t mean to sound overwhelmed by saying there were many meetings. Since it is the beginning of the year the first meetings mostly consisted of: welcome back + here is what we plan to do. Right now at this point in time it feels like this will be a busy year and hopefully I can add “interesting” to that too.

First Week Down, 15 to Go

2009-08-30T16:06:00.006-04:00

Hello all,

Well - a first week of class at Pharmacy school is much different than the first week at an undergraduate college. I went to Penn State for undergrad and we used to call the first week "syllabus week", meaning that every class during the first week only lasted about 20 minutes while the teacher read over the syllabus (pretty much a week to goof off)...well, that's not the case here. Our teachers know we are smart enough to read over the syllabus ourselves. So instead, on the first day, they dive right into the nitty gritty of their material.

This first week has been a little rough, 1) because I had to work 25 hours at CVS and, 2) I am still in summer mode! I would find myself sitting in class, paying attention and really grasping the material, but as soon as it was over...I wanted to go home and relax with my husband, watch a movie/TV or run outside...and not so much do the studying, reading, and reviewing that I knew I should be doing.

But, besides my crazy work schedule, my first week back was actually pretty good. It was great to see all of my friends again and also good to see the P3's that I had just begun to know at the end of my P1 year (they were then P2's). I feel like our group gets along really well and I like the atmosphere at the school. Our classmates are also really helpful to each other. People share their home-made study guides, charts, and cheat sheets with the rest of the class, hoping it can benefit them as well. I usually use the guides that are sent out and find them helpful supplements to my studying.

So - Fall semester classes for a P2 consist of Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Nonprescription Products (OTC), Pharmacy Outcomes, Biostats, Biostats lab, Pharmacy Practice Lab, and an elective, which for me is Intro to Health Care Management. Also, since P1 year, I have become much more involved in some of the organizations in the school. I am webmaster of the student government of the class of 2012, webmaster of APhA-ASP, and new member coordinator (pledgemaster) of Kappa Epsilon fraternity. I will go more into those things later.

Now the key is to get myself motivated enough to start studying for quizzes and exams that I know are coming up. I have mapped out all of the exams both on a google calendar and in my planner that I carry with me almost everywhere. It helps me manage my time more efficiently which I have learned is very important for pharmacy school.

This coming week I have lots of organization meetings, 10 hours at CVS, and of course classes to attend. I have a trip home planned for labor day weekend to go to the first Penn State home football game and visit with my family - and I have my first quiz in OTC the following week - so we will see how this goes!

Back for P3 year

2009-08-25T17:13:00.002-04:00

Hi!

Monday was the first day of my P3 year here at BJD School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University. It almost seems like it has taken a while to get here but then again it seems like just yesterday when I first got to Winchester.

I came from the suburbs of DC, where life was different for me. I didn’t come straight from undergrad, I decided to work in a pharmacy for a year before I came back to school. I went to school outside of DC (kindergarten through all of undergrad). My undergrad years were at a big state school right outside of DC that was very different from SU. So when I first got here I remember wondering: would I be able to adjust to a small private school in a smaller town. Now without any hesitation I can say that I think I have adjusted quite well (although I will be the first to admit that I miss the DC area, but being only 90 minutes away, that’s easily remedied).

What I came to realize over time was that a smaller school allows me to really get to know the people around me, from my classmates to my professors. That individualized attention was something I found lacking in a big university. Now here at my third year of pharmacy school, when I walk by former professors they say hi to me by name (whereas in the big university at most I would get was a smile from a former professors when I would walk by).

Monday morning started bright and early with what was supposed to be laptop exchange. As P3s we trade in our poor abused laptops for a new school issued laptop. We were told to be at the laptop exchange at 8 am. So shortly before 8 am, I and other pharmacy classmates were in line waiting…and waiting. Finally at 8:15 someone came by who was able to at least reach the laptop guys and then informed us that they were on their way and would be there in 15 more minutes. Well 15 more minutes went by and still no laptop guys. Since our 9 am class would be starting soon, I figured I’d go to class and just switch my laptop later.

Our first P3 class was Patient Assessment I, which was about patient documentation and SOAP notes. SOAP notes…something that as a pharmacy student you will not be able to escape, so make sure you are comfortable writing them. At first, writing a SOAP note is like being thrown a mix of useful and useless information that you have to dig your way through to find the relevant information to correctly write it. With more practice it should seem less and less like a puzzle.

In between classes I along, with many others switched our laptops and rushed back to our next class which had already started. But it was okay since our next class was Professional Practice Management, which was just a nice and quick review of the syllabus and schedule to come. We were done before I even had time to get distracted.

Last class of the day was ICARE Endo/Repro, which is a part of a sequence of classes where pathophysiology of diseases and the relevant therapeutics are taught. These classes are not to be taken lightly (aka no starting to study the night before the exam). The first lecture of this course covered diabetes, a disease state which seems to be increasingly common. Anyone who has worked in the retail setting has probably seen at least hundreds of prescriptions related to this disease state. I personally have helped out at a few of our school’s APhA diabetes clinics so knowing more about this disease state makes me feel that I will be better informed to help future patients.

So that wraps up most of my first day of P3 year and I already feel like it is only going to get busier.

P2 Student Introduction

2009-08-25T13:14:00.006-04:00

Hi Everyone!

My name is Sarah Nordberg and I am a P2 (Pharmacy Year 2) student here at BJD. I came to BJD after getting my bacholer's degree in Nutritional Sciences from Penn State University. I was attracted to this school because of it's advancement in technology, it's location (small town feel), and the people I met while interviewing here. After a year of being a student, I am very happy and love the people in the school and faculty and staff. The atmosphere is great and I am excited to continue my educational experience here.

More about me...I am married and live with my husband in a townhouse in Stephens City (about 3 miles south of Winchester). I work at CVS as a pharmacy intern - both during the summer and during school. My hometown is State College, which is where Penn State is located, and try to visit there a couple times a semester.

My goal with this blog is to help those who are interested - may it be prospective students, parents, fellow students, etc. - gain insight as to what life is like as a P2 here at BJD. I hope you enjoy!

Taking the scenic route to scenic Winchester, VA and the BJD School of Pharmacy

2009-08-25T11:26:00.004-04:00

Do you remember being a child and having people ask you, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Many students I come across have known they wanted to be a pharmacist for several years. Maybe they have a family member in pharmacy or maybe it is the exposure of the profession to more consumers and patients, but more and more students today seem to have had some idea they would end up in pharmacy early in their lives. I, however, did not...and this is why I have taken sort of a scenic route into the world of pharmacy education.

When I was deciding what my major was in college, I chose Math....not because I thought it would land me some great career or earn me lots of money, but because I loved math. Yes, some will call me a nerd because of this...but I have learned to embrace that title! When you get towards the end of your senior year of college and begin to worry about jobs, the questions start flooding in..."What are you going to do with your degree?", "What will be your career?", "How will you pay off your loans?" Somehow I didn't have a good answer for any of these questions. Many wondered if I would teach with my degree. Although I have a mother and sister who are both high school teachers and had always enjoyed helping others learn, I wasn't sure this was the career for me. Plus, I hadn't studied education in college and without student teaching I didn't think I could survive a day in the classroom. Graduation day came and so did the excitement for the future and fear of failure. I was standing there with a BA in Math and no prospects for a career to use that degree!

Fast forward a year, after working some retail jobs and a going no where sales position, I decided that I needed to stop wasting my education and do something I really enjoyed. At that time I thought I would giving teaching a try. Living at the time in Charlotte, NC I found that the school system was desperate for Math teachers. So, without any formal teaching experience I starting teaching high school math. This was a scary, exciting and rewarding experience all wrapped into one. I started taking education classes at this same time and found that I really enjoyed teaching. It also had it's struggles though and one day while standing in a pharmacy waiting to pick up my prescription, I realized I wanted more.

I refer to the experience as a "TV special" kind of moment. It sounds crazy, but all the hubbub of the busy pharmacy sort of disappeared into the background and I was focused on the pharmacist counseling an elderly woman on her medications. I couldn't hear what was going on, but something in watching that interaction from afar made me realize that pharmacy could be the perfect fit for me...this was the math and science I always loved, a chance to work with people and an opportunity to continue to educate. In a whirlwind of one year I had then taken the PCATs, applied to pharmacy school and was headed back home to Maryland to the School of Pharmacy.

As I went through pharmacy school my ideas of what a pharmacist could do really changed. While I always had a love for the community setting, I realized that this wasn't just about dispensing medications and counseling patients even. This is what led me to do a PGY-1 in Community Practice. My love of teaching also stayed with me and throughout pharmacy school I took advantage of opportunities to teach including being a TA in the Women's Health course and doing a teaching rotation my P4 year. This love was further strengthened as I had the opportunity to teach in the pharmacy curriculum during my residency. As I was finishing my PGY-1 residency I realized that I really enjoyed practicing in the Ambulatory Care setting and wanted to continue my training in a PGY-2 residency. When looking for a program, I made sure that I would have continued opportunities to teach. This search led me to Wilkes University where I was able to practice in the VA and a Family Medicine Practice as well as teach at the School of Pharmacy. I enjoyed this role so much that it confirmed that I would pursue a career in academia.

Looking for a school to teach at I wanted one that had a warm community atmosphere, an innovative curriculum and a faculty that was dedicated to helping students achieve their potential. It was a perfect fit when I walked through the doors of Shenandoah University. Plus, the school had the beautiful location to boot!

I am excited to see what experiences lie ahead for me as I start this adventure as a first year faculty member. What I know already is that although the road has been long and challenging getting here, it has definitely been worth it so far. And, although my path my be different than some of my students...and perhaps a bit more scenic...all of these experiences have helped me to become a better pharmacist and educator. I look forward to growing over the next year and letting you have a glimpse into what life is like as first year faculty. :)

Welcome to our blog!

2009-08-14T16:12:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the Life at the BJD blog!

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a pharmacy student? How is life in a professional graduate school different than undergrad? What is it like to live in Winchester, Virginia? Looking to ask a few current pharmacy students questions? Then you’re in the right place.

This blog will chronicle the ups, downs, ins and outs of several pharmacy students and a first year faculty member at the Bernard J. Dunn (BJD) School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.

We invite you to check back often, ask questions and find out what life is like at the BJD.