Wrapping Up PY1

I know it has been a while since I actually posted anything on here.  I really wanted to record the new experiences of pharmacy school, but I did not fully anticipate the barrage of information, assignments and examinations.  Before going into some details though, I should point out that it has been a great year.  While teaching and coaching began to bore me, there is far to much to do to ever get bored.

Fall Semester - PY1
The PharmD program began last August.  Due to some strange circumstances, we still lived in Winston-Salem while I was taking classes in Chapel Hill.  Additionally, my wife ended up with a teaching position in Wake County.  For about 5 weeks, we left the apartment at 4:30 with being dropped off at a bus stop in Chapel Hill at 6 while she continued another 45 minutes.  When then had to head in the opposite direction after her school day was over.  I have no other description than awful.  I might have finished a lot of work on campus, but we were exhausted, dehydrated and stressed.  Fortunately, we closed on our house in October after another series of complications involving the bank.

As if the commute was not difficult, the course load added up quickly.  Considering I have not been a student for a long time, it surprised me how much things have changed.  I tried taking notes in a notebook, just like I did in the early 2000's.  Impossible.  Everyone else clinks and clacks on laptops, but also checking emails and Facebook.  I adapted my lecture strategy to using my iPad.  For each lecture, I turned the Power Point file into a PDF with 2 slides per page and imported into a great app called Note Taker HD.  I have the professors slide deck and I can highlight, make notes or draw pictures on top of everything.  Most importantly, without my laptop out I had no distractions from the websites I would have scrolled through during the boring parts.  I am sure that works for some people, but I have to pay attention instead of just rewatching the lecture later.

The Fall classes were all straight forward college classes.  I was most nervous about Biochemistry since I had never taken it.  Our professor invented one of the Top100 drugs in the country and gave out dollar bills to students that answered questions.  He talked fast and I really struggled at first.  I became worried after the second class and not understanding a single thing the professor said for 90 minutes.  I thought I had made a huge mistake and had ruined everything for my wife and I.  BUT, I pulled through and actually ended the first semester with a 4.0.  I never expected to do as well as I did, but it worked.  At that point, I really thought, "I can do this Pharmacy thing!"  Then came the Spring Semester.

Spring Semester - PY1
After a successful first semester, I was pumped for round two.  I mean I was 1/8th of a pharmacist!  The new classes were mostly the second half of the falls courses.  Pharmaceutics II.  Biochemistry II.  But it was even more difficult.  The level jumped dramatically and I don't think many people expected it.  Watching other people, they really became super-anxious about every little thing.  We performed a medication history on a person acting like a patient.  Everyone freaked out, but it was pretty straight forward.  You just ask the "patient" for their medication list and then check how they take it, what they take it for, and if it works for them.  The only stressful part was the time limit.  That and I actually forgot my name tag that day.  Luckily no one who did the grading happened to notice.  At the end of the semester, everyone panicked about aseptic technique in IV hood.  I guess that one was a little more stressful as one mistake led to automatic failure.  Apparently about half of the students always have to try again.  Not me!  I was told that I have beautiful technique!

Another great part of the second semester was immunization certification.  Two tests and a couple of long class periods, then we are allowed to provide pharmacy based immunizations.  I am really excited about that.  I worked a day at the flu shot tent during the State Fair, but I couldn't do anything.  Now I actually get to shoot people in the arm!

Anyways, I made through the second semester of pharmacy school and am now officially 25% of the way to becoming a pharmacist.  I finished with another 4.0 for the semester and I am filling pretty good about my second chosen profession.  I just finished my month long rotation at UNC Hospitals this morning.  Actually, I am writing this sitting on the hospital's Starbucks patio waiting until lunch with the Director of Pharmacy.  I am saving my hospital experiences for a few more blog posts later on.  But I wanted to share a few parts of year one.  I am sure that I will write about a some more of it over the summer.  It was a struggle, but I have been successful.  I could not have done any of this without a super-supportive wife who packed up everything and quit a job she loved to come back to Chapel Hill.  She ended up in a bad situation at her new school, but I hope those problems have been sorted out.  While pharmacy school makes things difficult now, I believe that this route brings us far more options for the future and our family.  I hope that I can continue to make her proud.