Last Day Of Classes Ever

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!