Welcome to the Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy blog!

Monday, April 22, 2013

State and National Pharmacy Organizations


My name is Angela, and I am a P3 at PCSP.  As a pharmacy student, it is very important to be involved in the state and national pharmacy organizations.  Being a member of these organizations allows you to be up to speed with the career of pharmacy and allows you to meet other pharmacy students.  The national and state pharmacy organizations hold meetings where students, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacists can interact with each other.  They can also listen to presentations by their peers about what are the latest happenings in pharmacy.  I recently attended the ASHP Midyear Convention in Las Vegas, NV.  This convention was for students interested in hospital pharmacy and pharmacists and technicians who work in a hospital.  It was a great experience!  At this convention a residency showcase was held.  This is where residency programs from all over the United States are there promoting their residency programs.  There were hundreds of them!  If you are thinking of doing a residency, it is a very good idea to attend the residency showcase.  The rest of the convention consisted of sessions for students, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians.  The sessions I attended, while at the convention, discussed how to make yourself the best candidate for a residency program and what to expect during the application process.  Even though these sessions took most of the day, there was still time to enjoy the sites of Las Vegas.  Each year the ASHP Midyear Convention is held in a different city. 

Pharmacy organizations are a great way to interact with other pharmacy students and pharmacists.  They allow you to see the current areas of health care that are important to pharmacy.  Although pharmacy school can sometimes bog you down, it is good to take time to enjoy yourself….. and learn at the same time!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Advice for High School Students


My name is Lynne, and I am a P1 at PCSP.  To all those high school students who are pondering what to do in their future, this is for you.  High school is an important time in your life which most students do not realize.  There are so many important decisions that have to be made during that time, such as going to college or starting a new job.  If one decides to go to college, more difficult decisions have to be made.  Which college should you attend?  What should you major in?  When I was a junior in high school, I began my first job as a clerk in an independent pharmacy.  While working there I had the opportunity to observe and learn the roles of a pharmacist and pharmacy technicians.  After a week of working there, I fell in love with the environment of a pharmacy; I enjoyed interacting with patients, learning about medications, and helping others in the community.  Working in the pharmacy when I was 16 years old changed my life.  Who knew that starting as a clerk would lead to becoming a technician and intern, and eventually a career as a pharmacist?  The best advice I can give any young student is if you are even slightly interested in pursuing a career as a pharmacist, go out and search for opportunities to work in a pharmacy or become an intern.  It is extremely important to be familiar with pharmacy as a career before starting pharmacy school. 

When choosing a college that best fits you, it is important to look at colleges that offer the appropriate prerequisites.  There are numerous colleges/universities that offer classes for pharmacy school, including Presbyterian College.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of starting the process for pharmacy school early.  There is so much to do and time seems to fly I would strongly recommend talking to your advisor so he/she can guide you further in starting this process.  Good luck!!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Community Service is Fun!



Here at PCSP, we are required to do pharmacy and non-pharmacy related community service every year. At first I was scared that I wouldn’t have time to get all of my hours completed since we have to have five pharmacy-related hours and one non-pharmacy hour each year. I quickly found out that it’s not only easy to get all of your hours but it’s also tons of fun.

This year, my non-pharmacy related community service was done for Happy Wheels charity. This charity donates toys to sick children in hospitals around the country. And no, I did not donate money or toys or even time with children for this community service. I paid a small fee to run in a 5K in Columbia. I was not excited about the running part since that’s not really my thing, but I was excited that during the entire race you get pelted with colors! It was so much fun running and getting messy with my friends for such an amazing cause. Plus, I was really surprised that I finished the whole race in less than an hour. It really showed me that community service can be fulfilling, exciting, and showed me a lot about myself that I didn’t know before.

A few of my pharmacy related opportunities this year were through an organization that I joined called National Community Pharmacists Association or NCPA. I helped to run an information booth at the Greenwood County Fair that gave people resources to learn about flu shots, blood pressure, etc. I also helped to recruit people and collect samples for our annual bone marrow drive. This was particularly interesting because I never really knew much about bone marrow transplants before this event. I ended up getting swabbed myself and entering my DNA into the national database.

Community service is a very important part of the learning experience here at PCSP, and I am very glad that it is. I love learning new things about the community and pharmacy while helping others and having fun. There are so many opportunities each year for many different areas of interest, so it isn’t hard to find something that you will enjoy. I will continue to do community service for the rest of my career, and I owe every bit of that motivation to my school and my school family. Thanks PCSP! 
-Written By Courtney, P1 student