Block 3 & 4

So after a nice and totally well rested winter break, we go back to school starting off with Block 3. Block 3 is basically Block 2(2.0). The difference between the two is that with Block 3, we got a handle on how to study for the classes. Nonetheless, this block had its own set of challenges.

Block 3:

Pathophysiology & Patient Assessment 2:

PPA 2 is still Anatomy & Physiology on steroids but this time it touches on the Immunity, Gastrointestinal, Endocrine, and Nervous Systems. Depending on who you talk to, the hardest parts of the class was between the Immunity, GI, and Nervous systems while the easiest was the Endocrine system. My personal dislike was the nervous system because of the little study time/recovery time for it after our endocrine exam and the SHEER amount of information that came with it as well. Still, the SI sessions were more of a lifesaver than Khan Academy this time around because we only had 8 weeks in the class as opposed to the 10-11 weeks we had in PPA 1.

 Principles of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology 2:

Med Chem 2 was a total 180⁰ from last semester. The class was about graphing and how to interpret them. It was the easiest class in this block; but just because it was easy, doesn’t mean you can slack off and still expect a good grade. My advice for this class is after watching the regular lectures, watch the supplementary videos and work on the practice problems/tests that the professors give you. Trust me, even though it’s a bit of extra work, it makes a world of difference when it comes to the TBL sessions and the final exam. Also, unlike the classes thus far, this class only have ONE EXAM (worth about 50% of your entire grade) so every grade on your quizzes matter here; it’s the difference between passing and failing this class.

Principles of Drug Therapy Individualization:

Drug Therapy Individualization (abbreviated as PDTI) is like Physics with Calculus on steroids. The topics that this class talks about is pharmacogenomics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug distribution & clearance, and drug-drug/drug-food interactions just to name a few. There’s a lot of theories and calculations in this class and luckily, the equations that the professors give us are already derived for us. My advice for PDTI is to learn BOTH theory and the math behind them because they will come back to haunt you on the exams.  If you’re stronger in one aspect than another (ex. I’m good with calculations but suck when it comes to understanding the theory) ask a classmate/teammate that’s good at the stuff you’re weak in and study with them. Also, unlike other classes, because of the sheer amount of topics in PDTI it overlaps in Block 4 for 3-4 weeks.

I personally did not like this class; the parts of the class that I enjoyed were doing the calculations and pharmacogenomics topics (to the point that I ordered a 23andMe Genetics Kit & no I have not used it until this day because of the whole “selling your information to insurance companies” issue. I’m still trying to figure out if this is true or not and whether if I should risk it regardless). I also felt that they should have just had two separate classes for the pharmacogenomics/genetics section and the pharmacokinetics/dynamics sections instead of merging them the way they did, but I’m not in charge of making the curriculum so I just have to believe that the school knows what they are doing.

Block 4:

So after a well-deserved spring break, we hop back in school starting Block 4. Block 4 is different because instead of brutal science classes, we actually start our pharmacy classes. Yay! Finally! This block is supposed to help prepare us with our community pharmacy rotation this summer.

Patient Care 1:

The Patient Care classes are an eight course series that breaks down learning the medications and their effects via body systems (ex. Immunity, GI, Renal, Endocrine, Cardiovascular, etc.). Within those classes, you’ll learn the pathophysiology of a specific disease in that body system and the pharmacology & medicinal chemistry of the medication that goes with the disease.

In Patient Care 1 case, it was mainly about herbals, dietary supplements, complementary alternative medicine (CAM), and over the counter medications (OTCs). We also learned about various self-care diseases such as colds, fevers, allergies, GI (constipation, diarrhea, etc.), and pain. Every week we had to work on writing SOAP notes and we had vignettes problems related to the diseases that were taught and what medication/herbals we should give to the patient, what’s the appropriate dosage of the meds, why we should give the patient the medication that we recommended instead of another medication which was similar, find out if the patients had any exclusions so we can refer them to their doctor instead of recommending any medication. This class was super dense and somewhat intimate but it’s worth it at the end as you need this information for your CIPPE.

I personally loved this class because I was always interested with the effects of herbals and alternative medicine!

Principles of Evidence-Based Practice:

Evidence-Based Practice (or PEBP for short) was about reading, analyzing, & interpreting scientific/research articles with data and how to search for said literature. How PEBP worked is after you watched the lecture, you get a research article that you are require to read & interpret before you go to your TBL session. If you have done research and done literature reviews in your lab prior, you’ll somewhat have a leg up in this class. If you haven’t, well good luck because they go in DEEP in the course. PEBP might make or break your interest in research and journal clubs (and if it breaks you I’m sorry to say this, but according to the upperclassmen, this class will come back to bite you during your 2^nd and 3^rd year Patient Care classes and Skills Lab where you have Journal Club projects).

I personally had mixed feelings about the class. Since, I was one of those people who had experience prior, I thought the class was a waste of time for me; but they do have some interesting research articles that piqued my interest and kept me sane during class. Moral of the story: don’t knock it until you tried it.

Principles of Systems-Based Practice:

Systems-Based Practice (or PSBP for short) is the easiest and most straightforward class in this block. You’re basically learning about the workflow in a community and hospital pharmacy and how they similar and different from each other. You’ll also learn how to deal with/troubleshoot the insurance errors in the community pharmacy and how/why medication are priced the way they are.

Principles of Pharmacy Law & Ethics:

Law class is just as straightforward and a little denser. In this class, the atmosphere and the way the professor teach/drill the class, it’s like we are in law school instead of pharmacy school.  We had to learn the Florida statues and federal laws for pharmacy. We are constantly reminded in this class that just because you don’t know that the law exist, does not mean you don’t get to avoid the consequences of said law. So please, even after the class ends, stay on top of the laws (old, new, and revised) because you never know when these laws might come back to bite you in the butt when you go out to practice.

Throughout the Semester:

Professional Practice Skills Lab 2:

The first half of the lab was about troubleshooting insurance & medication errors, properly communicating with other health professionals, and how to transfer prescriptions. The second half of the class was a hands-on version on what we did in our Patient Care class. We had our second half of our Top 200 drug exam and we had to do a huge practical exam called the OSCEs.

Personal & Professional Development 1 (cont.):

This class is a continuation from last semester. We had to do team evaluations and talk to our Career Coach about our goals and what we were going to do to achieve said goals. Near the end of the semester, we had to do a huge SOAP note exam based on what we learned in Patient Care 1 and do a national exam called the PCOA.

Conclusion: I somewhat survived my first year with some mental scarring here and there, but hopefully, summer break can help me recover from that. I’m super excited about doing my CIPPE this summer, because now I can put what I learned (especially in Block 4) into practice!

Spring Semester Catch-Up

Hi everyone!

I know I haven’t been blogging as of late, but my second semester of pharmacy school was super demanding. Luckily, with the help of my faculty advisor, I started to get a handle on this semester. I’m super excited because the semester is almost OVER!! YAY!!

There was a lot going on. Of course, I had to deal with classes which were challenging but manageable. I’ll put up a blog page about Blocks 3 & 4 when “Hell Month” is over. Oh! What’s “Hell Month” you asked? “Hell Month” is basically us doing all our finals, OSCEs, and milestones within the month with little breathing room for a break (which will also be explained in the Block 3 & 4 page).

Also, spring semester is that time of year where students scramble to apply for officer and chair positions for their clubs, fraternities, and big organizations. I’m happy to say that I got three officer positions this year. Not too shabby for a first year like myself. I’ll also make a blog page about the organizations and the ones that I joined & got positions in.

I also had to talk to my career coach about my future career in the pharmacy field. I still have my two career dreams (either become a Nutrition Support pharmacist or open a mum-and-pop pharmacy). I still have time to choose or find a brand-new interest altogether, so I’m not in a big rush to pick and choose at the moment.  In the world of pharmacy, the world is your oyster.

We also had to pick (and pray) for our summer CIPPE assignments. Wait! What’s a CIPPE you asked? CIPPE stands for ‘Community Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience.’ Basically, we pharmacy students must go in a community pharmacy (ex. CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, independent pharmacies) and gain real life/hands on experience on how they operate while completing a certain number of hours. Luckily for me, I got the summer rotation that I wanted which is an independent compounding pharmacy in town so I’m looking forward to it.

In the first week of April, after going to hell and heaven and back here on this earth, I finally got MY WHITE COAT. UF REALLY make you work for these white coats and it was so worth the hard work and wait. Without my family, teammates, and the friends I made during the school year, I wouldn’t be even wearing this white coat right now.

Block 1 and 2

Since 2015, UF College of Pharmacy changed their curriculum from the traditional schedule (similar to undergrad scheduling) to something called ‘block scheduling’. Basically, instead of taking 7 – 8 classes all at the same time, the classes and the time to complete thing are split in half. So (in fall semesters case) instead of doing all 7 classes at once, 2 classes are done 5 weeks, 3 classes are done in 10-11 week, and 2 classes last the entire semester.

Pros: Not overwhelmed by the number of classes taken, can focus on one to three classes at a time, the classes for each block are integrated into each other so the lessons are easier to grasp.

Cons: Have a limited timespan to learn the material

With the new curriculum instead of going to live classes to hear the professor speak for a couple of hours, we must watch pre-recorded lectures before going to class. Our live lectures are now called ‘Team Based Learning Sessions’ or TBL for short. In TBL, we take quizzes called i/tRATs. iRATs are quizzes you take individually; while tRATs are basically the same as iRATs, but you take the quiz with your team. In TBL, instead of having professors lecture us for two hours (they will assume that you watched the pre-recorded lectures), we’ll get patient cases and we have to solve them with our team.

Orientation:

Orientation lasted four days; two days with students from the Gainesville, Orlando, & Jacksonville campus and two days at our home campuses. This unnatural feeling of pressure and stress was weighed down on us since the first day of orientation. We met the assistant dean, our professors for the fall semester, and some speakers from CVS & Walgreens. We were eventually paired up with our teammates who we were stuck with for the rest of the year (we change team every year apparently) and did some teambuilding activities so we can become acquainted with one another. We also met our upperclassmen and they told us advice about how to survive the curriculum, gave us a tour of the college of pharmacy, and had an extracurricular fair. We were also acquainted with our faculty advisor who will be guiding us for the next four years. I clicked with mine right away and she even took me and a group of people also assigned to her to the Pharmacy Museum.

Block 1:

Block 1 is basically the ‘breather’ block; it’s supposed to ease you in the curriculum. This block is the time to work on your study style, have time to check out & join the many pharmacy clubs and fraternities that the school has, time management, and getting a feel for your teammates. This block is basically the calm before the storm. We took two non-science classes: Principles of Patient Centered Care and Pharmacy & Population Health

Principles of Patient Centered Care

This class is basically about how to properly talk to patients without them becoming resistant to the pharmacist, how to identify and prevent a patient’s drug therapy problem & drug related morbidity, and an introduction to writing SOAP notes. I enjoyed this class, so much so that I enjoyed going on campus solely for this class. The professor was super interactive, funny, friendly and I learned for much from him.

Pharmacy & Population Health

Population Health is a class that I think everyone from all walks of life needed this class, as it serves as a reality check about the health discrepancies of ALL races & ethnicities & special populations. We also learned about health literacy & how to properly target low literacy patients and various health policies (laws, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, ect.).

Block 2:

Block 2 is where we start taking our hardcore science classes: Pathophysiology & Patient Assessment 1, Principles of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology 1, and Drug Delivery Systems. This is when our time management skills and our stress levels get tested to the max. We also have to deal with the fact that we have to change our study styles because for each modules/chapters, we get a different professor as opposed to sticking with one.

Pathophysiology & Patient Assessment 1

Pathophysiology (which I will start abbreviating PPA from here on out) is basically Anatomy & Physiology/Human Physiology on steroids. We covered basics of a cell, muscles, cardiovascular, renal, and respiratory systems. The most feared modules in PPA was cardiovascular and renal because of the sheer amount of information that was given. Khan Academy and SSI teaching sessions were my best friends in this course because they help break down the information in the class.

Principles of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology 1

Medicinal Chemistry (which I will start abbreviating Med Chem from here on out) is basically General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry on steroids. This class wasn’t too bad in my opinion. What made Med Chem a tad bit frustrating is that we had to apply organic chemistry rules with BIG/LONG drug molecules and you had to memorize a lot of those drug structures. Other than that, if you work on the practice problems that the professors give you, the quizzes and exams are smooth sailing.

Drug Delivery Systems

Drug Delivery Systems (abbreviated as DDS) is basically…well nothing on steroids. This class is about the various dosage forms (tablets, capsules, oral liquids, suppositories, etc.), the ingredients within each dosage form, a little bit of chemical theory of the dosage forms, calculations, and compounding. DDS is basically just memorizing & and a bit of math so it’s either the best dream ever or a nightmare. And as some of us learned the hard way, just because the class is about memorization, doesn’t mean you can study at the last possible minute because of the sheer amount of information given.

Throughout the Semester:

Professional Practice Skills Lab 1

This class is my favorite out of the ones mentioned above because we do lots of hands-on activities. We learned how to check blood pressure with a stethoscope, how to check blood sugar via blood glucose meters, how to use various asthma inhalers, and compounded powders, capsules, various oral liquids, & suppositories. We also learn how to counsel patients and write SOAP notes. We also had to study and take a milestone exam for the Top 200 drugs through the lab (luckily, we only studied the first 100 drugs that were assigned to us). The professors who teach the labs are super amazing and fun and super informative.

Personal & Professional Development 1             

This class what it says in the title; it teaches us how to improve as an individual, a team player, and professionals. We learn how to make SMART goals, figure out our study & leadership styles, do team evaluations, and we get a Career Coach based on our interest in the pharmacy.

Hi!

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole. I graduated with an Associates of Arts in Pharmacy and a Bachelors of Science in Biological Science with a concentration in Biopharmaceutical Science at Miami Dade College. I am about to start pharmacy school at the University of Florida this coming fall. I’m very open-minded about learning & trying new things and visiting new places. I treat every day like an adventure! What I like to do on my spare time is cooking & baking (cause I’m a big foodie), playing video games, writing short stories, reading a good book, and staying active by either going to the gym, playing sports, or taking dance classes.

If I were to say that my childhood ambition was to become a pharmacist, I would be lying. To be honest, I wanted to be a medical doctor for as long as I can remember. My path to becoming a physician was about to change during my senior year of high school. During my senior year, I had reservations about being a physician; I began having doubts about my career choice. I turned to my CAP advisor for help and poured out all of my worries to her. She helped me immensely by suggesting that I go to the career fair. I went to the fair in hopes that my worries and doubts would clear from my mind. I spoke to various health professionals. None of them peak my interest until I met a pharmacist. When I approached him, I told him, “You must have the easiest job in the world because all you do is give out medication all day.” The pharmacist laughed saying, “He’s not surprised to hear such a response from me because he hears this on almost a daily basis.” He also told me that pharmacists do not only give out medication. They consult and educate patients about their medication making sure that the patients are taking their medication properly. I had an epiphany. Pharmacists are guardian angels. The intriguing conversation kept playing in my head.  The conversation brought me new joy, and it sparked something inside of me. It was this conversation that changed my thinking. My interest shifted from becoming a physician to a pharmacist.

My ambitions in the pharmacy field is to educate low income minorities about their medical concerns, take away any fears they might have about them, and help close the gap on the health disparities that affect minorities. The pharmacy fields that I’m interested in is Compounding, Nutrition Support, and Community Pharmacy in terms of independent pharmacy. I’m also keep an open mind about the other fields of pharmacy because I never know what I will be exposed to during my time in pharmacy school.

I want to help pre-pharmacy, or better yet, any science and non-science major who is interested in the pharmacy field become the best that they can be. I want to not only write blogs about my soon-to-be pharmacy school adventure, but to give advice about what and what NOT to do during your undergrad years. And a little bit of random topics because I would like to speak my mind about topics outside of pharmacy every once in a while. So if you guys have any questions about pharmacy school or need advice about life in general, don’t be shy and let me know. So, ladies and gentlemen, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight cause we are about to go on a bumpy ride!!