Pharmacy Practice Experiences

PCSP is unique in many ways, and one of those is how we schedule our experiential education hours.  Our rotations are integrated into our curriculum making our summers free.  So as a P3 I spent the past 6 Thursdays at the Free Clinic in Greenwood.  Our objectives were to learn the practice of pharmacy from our preceptors at a practice site. 

At United Ministries Free Clinic of Greenwood, I worked alongside many wonderful volunteers who taught me what it really means to give back.  I worked extensively with the pharmacist in charge at the free clinic, and organized donations and filled prescriptions.  I also worked with one of my professors who volunteers at the clinic and got great experience educating patients.

The free clinic runs on donations from the community.  Community members donate unwanted medications and medical equipment, yet only some of these donations can be used.  It was important to ensure the products were sealed, in date, and something the pharmacy will actually use.  Local physician offices also donate professional samples.  Again, I had to screen the donations to ensure they would be used, and they were in date.  The clinic also orders a few generic medications that are paid for with monetary donations, and I shelved those as they arrived.  Patient assistance programs from drug companies are also used to obtain medications for patients and those had to be inventoried as they arrived.   

On Thursdays, a physician and medical resident are available to see patients.  If the physician prescribes medications for the patients, then the pharmacy fills those prescriptions.  This process is very similar to other community pharmacies.  The physician brings the order to the pharmacy; the right product is pulled from the shelf, counted, labeled, and checked by the pharmacist.  The patient is then called back to the pharmacy and is educated on the prescription.

One day I got to observe Dr. Johnson, a PCSP professor, provide a diabetes education program to patients newly diagnosed or needing help controlling their diabetes.  This was geared towards dietary modifications and how the patients can integrate modifications into their busy lives. 

I truly enjoyed this experience; there are several truly fantastic people who choose to volunteer at United Ministries Free Clinic in Greenwood.  Not only did I learn new pharmacy skills, I was also able to hone my existing pharmacy skills on this rotation.  I also learned how important it is to give back to the larger community. 

Written by Molly, P3 Student 

Professors & Students Who Care: Building Community

Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy School was by far my best choice when considering which pharmacy school to attend.  The thing I love most about Presbyterian is the community within the school.  The professors here are beyond amazing.  Every professor that I have encountered will go out of their way to answer any questions that you have and help you all that they can so that you will succeed in pharmacy school.  Not only are the professors amazing, but so are the students.  Students at Presbyterian will also do all that they can to help you succeed in pharmacy school. 

Presbyterian is also very serious when it comes to community service.  I really love this about Presbyterian.  We have been given countless of opportunities to go out and serve our community in a variety of different ways.  For example, during orientation week we were assigned to volunteer, whether it was with the equestrian center, a local church, or the soup kitchen.  Each and every location where we volunteered was very appreciative of our service.  Being a pharmacist is more than standing behind a counter, but it is about serving your community.  The opportunities we are given here at Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy offer great experience as we continue our career in pharmacy.

Written by Lynne, P1 Student 

What Makes PCSP Special to Me...

Hello, my name is Chris and I’m a P3 here at PCSP.  I just wanted to take a second and tell you a little bit about the school as a whole.  PCSP is unlike any other college I’ve attended.  The faculty here is second to none.  Each faculty member genuinely cares about every one of their students and will take every avenue possible to help.  Our professors bring multiple backgrounds to the school ranging from toxicologist to pharmacist (of course) to researchers.  

The technology is great and really brings the curriculum to life, putting us in real situations through the use of our simulation lab.  We also have a great IT staff to help with any technology issues you may encounter.  The labs and IPPEs (introductory pharmacy practice experiences) go hand-in-hand, and it seems like every time we covered something in lab, I saw it that week out on my IPPE.  

The environment here is amazing.  I’ve never attended a college that I was comfortable enough to leave my bags lying around school until I came here.  The honor code here at PCSP really creates an environment of trust and safety.  The school is available to students 24 hours a day with key card access which makes it great for after hours study groups.  I really can’t list all the positives the school has to offer, but I can tell you that if you get the chance to visit you should definitely come experience it for yourself!

Caring for the Community

I am Sunanda, and I am a 2^nd year pharmacy student.  Being a part of Presbyterian College, we are taught to deliver quality care to our community.  I chose pharmacy over other professions in order to fulfill my long term goal to serve my community with the knowledge I earn from school.  My first year at PCSP has taught me a lot, and the next three years will help me achieve my goal of serving the community with compassion.  Different organizations at school sanction pharmacy related and non pharmacy related services to help educate our community.  I was involved in some of these events including immunizations, operation diabetes education, the health fair, etc.  In September, I volunteered for the health and fitness fair at Clinton High School.  It was a huge success because we were able to educate many people about diabetes and its risk factors, treatments, and life style changes.  We also encouraged people to get immunized for vaccine preventable diseases. 

During the immunization event, we gave vaccines to people and also educated them about the importance of annual vaccination. Thus, it is a learning experience about spreading awareness of disease prevention while attending pharmacy school.  We also had a medication take back day in which we collected all unused medications from the community to dispose of them safely.  It was fun because we got an opportunity to interact with the community in addition to our faculty and classmates.

I think community service is a great way to see life from a variety of angles, and it is an opportunity to give something to others without expecting anything in return.  PCSP has given us tremendous opportunities where we can find a way to not just make a difference in our lives, but also in other people’s lives. 

Getting the Sense You Belong, and This is Home

Everyone longs for that one moment when every ounce of worry and hesitation about which school to choose disappears.  I've been lucky enough to have that exact moment, twice actually.  When I headed back towards home from my interview two years ago at PCSP, I couldn't help but reminisce on the familiar feeling that I felt prior to undergrad.  This feeling is the feeling of knowing where you belong and excitement of beginning the journey.

I am Ginnie, a P2 at Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy.  I am from just up the road in Asheville, North Carolina.  Although it doesn't feel as if nearly two years have passed since I felt this feeling, I am still, if not more, confident in my gut feeling from PC!  I’m sure that you have heard similar statements from other PC students, but there is no better way to express the feeling that everyone at PC gave me after my interview.  Compared to other interviews, other interactions with faculty, staff, as well as students, no one seemed as compassionate and genuine as everyone at PC.

As a current student, I think that PC continues to impress me with everything from the faculty dedication to the school wide motto of “while we live we serve”.  At PC, we are continuously working towards doing our best to help various organizations within the community.  Just to name a few, we have worked on a week long fund raising event to raise money for heart health month that ended in a red heart gala in support of heart heath, educated the community on antibiotic usage, and are in the process of planning a week long event to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House with everything from a corn hole tournament, chili cook-off, to a yard sale.

I believe that the conglomeration of stellar faculty, an excellent approach to teaching us pharmaceutical skills, a common goal of giving back to the community, and spreading our knowledge help to create the complete PC environment.  I am proud to be able to continue to represent PC as a student and embrace the culture.  I cannot imagine finding a school that made me feel as welcome as PC, and I continue to feel that warmth day by day. 

Admissions: HELP!

My name is Courtney, and I am a first year (P1) student at PCSP.  This means that I just recently went through the crazy and stressful process that is applying to pharmacy school.  Let me tell you a little about my experience and my advice to avoid the hassle that can easily occur with admissions.

To begin with, I didn't even know that I had to consider submitting my application information at such an early date.  I almost missed the deadline and probably would have if someone wouldn't have told me about this.  My advice is to get a head start on admissions as soon as possible.  This is especially important when it comes to getting your transcripts sent from your undergrad school.  I had a terribly long and expensive mistake with this process.  PharmCAS is the program that PCSP uses in the admissions process to help decrease paper waste and promote going green.  Do not send your any of your application information directly to the school, because it will be recycled and considered incomplete.  This sounded kind of harsh to me at first because I didn't realize the importance of being a green school.  All you have to do is make sure that you send all of your paperwork to PharmCAS, and they will pass this information along to PCSP.  PharmCAS will be your best friend at times, and it will also be your worst enemy if you don’t complete things appropriately and in a timely manner.  Make yourself very familiar with this program ahead of time so that you won’t miss anything that could be essential to getting into a pharmacy school.  There are many different steps that have to be completed and some are very time consuming.  The step that I had the most problems with was getting my transcripts from all of the undergrad institutions and high school AP courses I completed to PharmCAS before the deadline. Make sure that you get a different transcript from each school that you attended for your prerequisite courses!  This includes AP courses in high school that were completed through a community college.  I cannot stress enough the importance of starting everything VERY early on to make sure that you don’t miss the deadlines.  It does take PharmCAS a good bit of time to check everything and communicate to the school because they have so many students’ applications to sort through.

Another important tip is to make sure that, once you’re accepted, you complete all of the outstanding requirements by their deadlines as well.  Do not make the mistake of thinking that you have all the time in world just because it’s summer time.  This is especially important with transcripts again and immunizations.  Make sure to schedule appointments for your missing immunizations plenty of time ahead, because there can always be complications with this process.  My problem was getting the TB skin test on the Friday before a holiday weekend so the test was almost not able to be read at 8 AM Tuesday morning.  Also, I thought that I was immune to the chicken pox because I had them as a kid.  As it turns out, my case was not strong enough to produce full immunity and my titer came back negative.  I had to rush to start my vaccine before I was past the deadline.

My experience was less than pleasant, but I hope this will help you avoid the mistakes that I made.  Most of my mistakes were procrastination on my part and unforeseen complications.  I wish everyone the best of luck with your admissions process!  We have a great staff here at PCSP that would love to answer any questions that you may have during this stressful time.  I look forward to meeting everyone next year, and I thank you for your interest in our school.

Why I came to PCSP...

My name is Katie, and I am a third year pharmacy student. If you are considering applying to pharmacy school, I would highly recommend ours. It has so many great things to offer that you cannot find at every pharmacy school. One thing that makes our school different is that all of our classes are live and you don’t have to listen to lecture on a video. This aspect is very beneficial to most students, and it is one of the things that influenced my decision about where I wanted to attend. I would highly recommend you to take a tour of our school and find out all these great things that our school has to offer.

Another great reason I love this school is the town that it is in. Granted, it is a small town but that is what makes it great. Because it is in a small town, that leaves a lot of time for you to study and focus on educational things like projects, tests, etc. On the other hand, because of the size, it allows you to really get close to the people in the town and create lasting friendships. On that note, our class size is around 80 students per class which allows you to know everyone and start up great friendships and relationships with classmates.

While you are studying hard and focusing on school, it is very important to remember that you should always find time for yourself. Go out to dinner, hang out with friends, take time to travel, etc. You will greatly thank yourself if you get out of the books every now and then and find time to relax and take a break from school. You can always find something to do and the major cities are not that far away from Clinton.  So remember, prioritize your time wisely but have fun and enjoy your four years of pharmacy school!