P1 Year Completed!

Hey everyone!  My name is Jenny, and I am a P2.  I can’t believe that I have already completed my first year of pharmacy school…it has been a whirlwind of studying, learning, and even squeezing some fun in with friends! Beginning pharmacy school, I (along with all of my classmates) was nervous at the prospect of keeping up with the rapid pace and challenging material that was presented to me by my new professors.  As the semester went on, and the first exams were completed, I realized that I really CAN do this if I put forth some effort.  The start of the second semester had me feeling much more confident in my abilities to keep up and do the work required at the graduate level.  My advice to you as you are beginning your pharmacy career is to stay on top of your assignments, and remain confident in the fact that you were able to get into pharmacy school, so someone believed that you would be able to finish the program- be confident in your abilities- they have served you well thus far!

Our Next Step

My name is McCall, and I am now a 4th year pharmacy student. Our APPE rotations began on May 6^th, I was nervous and excited all at the same time!

APPEs are 4^th year rotations that begin in May and end in April.  All students must complete 9 month-long rotations in this 12 month period.  There are 4 mandatory rotations that must be completed by all students:  Acute Care, Ambulatory Care, Advanced Institution, and Advanced Community.  This leaves us with 5 elective rotations, which allow us to explore our areas of interest.  For example, one could choose to do an elective in Pediatrics, Academia, or even Informatics.

I feel our professors have done a great job at providing us with the skills and knowledge we need to go out on our 4^th year rotations.  In April, all P3 students took the Third Year Competency Exam (TYCE) before going out on rotations. This exam covers the key concepts taught over the past three years.  Even though it was another exam to add to our list, I believe it was a great review and helped prepare us for our rotations.

After completing our APPEs, we will graduate on May 10^th, 2014 as PCSP’s inaugural class!  After passing the board exams, we will then be ready for the next step in our professional career.  For some students this will be to further their education by completing a residency or fellowship, and for others this means starting their first job as a licensed pharmacist.  It’s hard to believe how fast pharmacy school flies by!  The pharmacy profession will provide us with endless opportunities, and I am anxious to see what different career paths my classmates and I will take.

Dear Younger (High School) Me:

You may not know it yet but you are going to be a great pharmacist.  I know what you are thinking.  What?!  All those science classes, public speaking classes, and business classes you are taking will add on toward the path of pharmacy.  The core classes you will be taking in college will be majority science classes.  You will also need to take minor classes that will consist of social studies, public speaking, and economic classes.  Oh, I just found this out recently that you can apply to pharmacy school with 2 years of prerequisite coursework and not have to have a 4-year degree.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to you, younger me.  But to you readers, note that you can finish all your prerequisites within 2 years, and it may require you to take summer classes.  Make sure to pay more attention to those classes because it will haunt you when you go to college and pharmacy school.  I am not trying to intimidate you, but I am being real. 

Here’s a list of key highlights you should be doing from the time you read this letter to you get to pharmacy school:   

1)  Science  (enough said) 

2)  Shadowing experience - If you have time… I know you have time, but you’re in denial.  Go to your local pharmacy and ask the pharmacist if you can see what he/she does on a daily basis.  You might have to try more than one pharmacy because they might be busy.  The purpose of shadowing is to get that professional experience, and it will help you with getting a reference letter from a pharmacist. Why?  You will need it when you get ready to apply to pharmacy school.  Plus, it will make you look good.  And I’m sure you want to look good.

3)  Community Service - Why? Just cause.  You need it for high school, college, and pharmacy school.  Plus, pharmacy is a profession that's based on serving others.  

4)  Time Management -  There will be a window of time to apply for Pharmacy school.  My best advice for you is to do it earlier and for the better.  You will have to consider all the prerequisite, recommendation letters, writing personal statement, etc.

Keep in mind that pharmacy school is not easy and may be intimidating at first, but it is a rewarding career for the mind, body, and soul.  Trust me, I am a pharmacy student.

Best wishes for your future,

Patrick, P2 

Blue Hose Knows!

Self Care Bowl at SCPhA, Hilton Head Island

June 6-9, 2013

 

Last weekend I attended the South Carolina Pharmacy Association Annual Convention down in Hilton Head, SC; this would be my second year in attendance and also my favorite!  This year SCPhA held a Self Care Quiz Bowl between the four pharmacy campuses here in South Carolina: USC campus of SCCP, MUSC campus of SCCP, PCSP, and South University!  I was lucky enough to be a part of PCSP’s self care team.

 

Our team consisted of 5 girls, including myself, and two community practice faculty, Dr. Kayce Shealy and Dr. Tiffany Threatt!  Our coaches helped us to prepare for the quiz bowl by providing practice sessions that would be set up in a similar fashion to the actual competition, and they supplied us with plenty of information and facts on over the counter medicines, not to mention our last class of the semester was OTC!  The jeopardy style categories for the quiz bowl were sent out to us, and as a team, our strategy was to divide and conquer.  My two categories were Nicotine Numbers and wonDERMents, suggesting that I would need to know everything OTC for nicotine replacement therapy and skin.  Other categories my teammates took were GI don’t feel well,  Bug Bites, Seasonal Allergies, Anagrammed OTCs, Potent Potables, ELEMENTary answers, and OTC rules and regulations.  We decided to also give our team some flare with our team name “First Response”, and we decided to dress up as Nerds to have a little fun with the competition! 

When quiz bowl time came around Saturday afternoon, we had the best fans in the crowd to cheer us on!  Some of our own faculty and staff from PCSP came out to support us!  The competition went great and we definitely made it known that we knew our OTC stuff!  Our team ended up getting second place out of the four teams competing!  I could not have been more proud of our team and our school!  Being involved in the state convention through the Self Care Bowl brings about the team spirit and made the convention even more fun for all of us.

Hope to see all of you guys get involved here at PCSP!

Take Care,

Lauren, P3 

First Year of Pharmacy School

Hi, everyone.  My name is Caleb, and I am a rising P2 at PCSP.  Our first year of pharmacy school is officially finished, and it went by more quickly than I thought it would!  It was a wonderful year, and though I am ready for a break this summer, I am excited to return in the fall and continue on this great journey.  

I remember that I was a little anxious about starting pharmacy school this time last year.  I didn’t know if there was something I should do over the summer to prepare, if I should try to find a job as soon as I got to school, how much studying I would be doing every day once school started, etc.  For the most part, all of the answers to these questions will vary based on the individual, but I did want to offer my perspective on them.

In retrospect, I honestly don’t feel as though there was anything I could have done over the summer to prepare for pharmacy school.  You will build on the prerequisite courses which you have already taken and learn how those concepts apply to pharmacy.  One thing that I think could be mastered over the summer to help lighten the load of your first semester would be to learn the trade and generic names for the top 200 drugs.  If you get this knowledge down over the summer, it will free up some of your study time for your tougher conceptual classes like biochemistry or immunology.  

With regards to working, I did not have a job during my first semester of pharmacy school.  I wanted to be free to devote myself to studying as much as I needed to be successful as I adjusted to the rigors of pharmacy school, and it worked for me.  I finished the semester quite successfully and had a grasp on how I needed to study.  So, I took an internship position with Walgreen’s during the second semester when I knew that I would be able to handle it on top of school.  The pharmacists at work are always considerate of my schedule and willing to work with me so that I can work when I have the time available, which is typically weekends and school breaks. 

With regards to studying, the best strategy is to study a little bit each day.  I typically spent two hours going over notes every day after class.  While this may seem like a big time investment initially, it really pays off when exam time comes around because I didn’t have to try to cram for tests, which is stressful and inefficient. 

I hope these tips help you as you prepare to start your first year of pharmacy school! 

Finding the Perfect Study Buddy

Everyone has a different way of learning.  Hopefully you’ve figured out what works for you by now, but if not there’s still time.  One of the most important aspects of studying is your study buddy and it may or may not be an actual person.  Some people need complete silence and a white erase board, others a small group where they can discuss, and others still may need a coffee shop and their favorite Pandora station to be their study buddy.  Whatever works for you, stick with it.  For me I always study best in a familiar place with some background noise.  That perfect study combination got a makeover when I came to pharmacy school, and it wasn’t just the adjustment to a new school, new apartment, and new friends.  I got a dog during the spring semester of my P1 year!  Her name is Molly, and she has become the perfect study buddy.  She cuddles quietly in my lap or in her bed for the most part, but she also forces me to take study breaks to play with her or take her outside.  She also ensures that I get up early in the morning to take her out and feed her and as a result my day gets going sooner.  While a dog may not be an ideal study buddy for everyone, there is someone or something out there who will be.  At the end of the day your study buddy will be a very big part of your time in pharmacy school because most of those 4 years will be spent studying.  

Written by Cortney, P3 student