Things/people that bother/annoy me in pharmacy school

[confettiflyer]

That's something I didn't get about Jefferson when I went for an interview. Is the pharmacy school in that building where we had interviews?

No the building you had interviews in (Edison) was mostly administrative offices and a few nursing classes are held there. The majority of our classes are held in 3 buildings: Hamilton (that brand spankin' new building that houses the clinical skills center & mock hospital wing, it's freakin' sweet), Alumni Hall (that decrepit, run down building with the gym/pool in the basement....classrooms and labs remodeled just this year), and Bluemle (2 conference centers downstairs, cancer ctr. labs the rest of the bldg).

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[Sparda29]

No the building you had interviews in (Edison) was mostly administrative offices and a few nursing classes are held there. The majority of our classes are held in 3 buildings: Hamilton (that brand spankin' new building that houses the clinical skills center & mock hospital wing, it's freakin' sweet), Alumni Hall (that decrepit, run down building with the gym/pool in the basement....classrooms and labs remodeled just this year), and Bluemle (2 conference centers downstairs, cancer ctr. labs the rest of the bldg).

As much as I hate Philly, I would have loved to go to Jefferson. I saw a helicopter landing on the hospital. Too bad I sucked on the interview.

 

[naseuy]

Haven't used coal tar yet...probably later.

Torsion balances? wtf? how old is your school? we got those new digital scales with the thing that shuts out the air.

I'm afraid that the torsion balances are standard for the new york state compounding exam.

 

[confettiflyer]

As much as I hate Philly, I would have loved to go to Jefferson. I saw a helicopter landing on the hospital. Too bad I sucked on the interview.

Yeah that helicopter...it's great. I'll be studying in the Hamilton building with those giant windows and everyone would pause to stare at the helicopter hovering overhead. Surprisingly it's not loud, they probably took the flight path into consideration when they built that thing.

I'm afraid that the torsion balances are standard for the new york state compounding exam.

Sucks, hopefully they're not decrepit like at the OP's school. Good thing I'm probably not going to NY.

 

[Sparda29]

I'm afraid that the torsion balances are standard for the new york state compounding exam.

They're not that hard to use but they are just a major annoyance when you have to keep on adding and removing material until you get the correct weight. I thought it was a major accomplishment when I compounded some Magic Mouthwash... then I learned we have to know how to compound capsules as well.

The capsule **** just takes too long, it took me about 1 hour to compound 7 capsules of 20 mg HCTZ + Lactose 300 mg AD, and that was with the digital balance.

Although we were told that for the exam, they don't verify the concentration, just the weight. So when you're preparing the capsules on the exam, if you calculate that you need 3 grams of inert substance for the prescription, toss in some extra inert substance and make sure you don't run out of material for the capsules. (Of course, don't mess with the amount of drug you are using.)

Reason for this extra stuff would be since NYS has this stupid ass rule on part of the compounding exam that you have to "punch" the powder into the capsule, rather than taking the micro spatula and adding it in there. Apparently if the proctor catches you using the spatula to add material into the capsule, you fail. The problem with punching the material into the capsules is that you need a tightly compacted powder, and when you're almost out of material, it becomes impossible to do.

 

[medicalCPA]

As much as I hate Philly, I would have loved to go to Jefferson. I saw a helicopter landing on the hospital. Too bad I sucked on the interview.

Almost every time I pass the Children's Hospital here in Birmingham, I see a helicopter landing or taking off. But UAB has no pharmacy school.

 

[medicalCPA]

Yeah that helicopter...it's great. I'll be studying in the Hamilton building with those giant windows and everyone would pause to stare at the helicopter hovering overhead. Surprisingly it's not loud, they probably took the flight path into consideration when they built that thing.

...Or your building is very well soundproofed.

 

[confettiflyer]

...Or your building is very well soundproofed.

lol that's what i meant, they took the helicopter landing into consideration when selecting building materials. Even on the 5th floor while in lecture, the sound isn't that loud.

 

[crazybob]

lol that's what i meant, they took the helicopter landing into consideration when selecting building materials. Even on the 5th floor while in lecture, the sound isn't that loud.

lol speaking of sound, my profs use microphones in every lecture hall with the speakers. except every microphone and speaker is on a wireless frequency, so if they don't match up well, you can hear a lecture from a different classroom. it's kinda scary.

sometimes it would be a microphone from an empty lecture hall, but a computer technician would be working in there, so we would hear a door closing on our speakers while also hearing our professor talk on the speakers. we used to think it was a ghost playing around with the speakers. and our prof would be close to finishing the lecture and hear the sound of another door closing and say "i think that's a sign for us to end the class" lol

 

[confettiflyer]

lol speaking of sound, my profs use microphones in every lecture hall with the speakers. except every microphone and speaker is on a wireless frequency, so if they don't match up well, you can hear a lecture from a different classroom. it's kinda scary.

one day our professor left the classroom with the mic still on and the 2nd professor took over, all we heard was "DING...going down"

2 mins later the first professor walks in with the mic, hahaha

 

[crazybob]

one day our professor left the classroom with the mic still on and the 2nd professor took over, all we heard was "DING...going down"

2 mins later the first professor walks in with the mic, hahaha

that reminds me of this

from http://www.fmylife.com/work/5033555
Today, while giving a lecture about gasses to a large chemistry class, I went outside to let loose an unusualy loud fart while they took some notes. I came back in only to see 300 students dying of laughter. I had left the wireless mic on. FML

 

[Passion4Sci]

Amazing how quickly that "FML" turned into a grammar/spell check fest...

 

[medicalCPA]

Amazing how quickly that "FML" turned into a grammar/spell check fest...

The comments on that page are freaking hilarious!

Could you fartt on my face next time please?

What?????????????????
You serious, dude you have issues.

 

[crazybob]

There's always one in every crowd

 

[mug3n]

Based on limited experience of first year so far:

I thought I would just list few and ask if you guys see the same at your schools too.

1) People who think they must talk to each other during class about how it's boring when the professor is lecturing or when a student in the front row is trying to ask a question, and I can't hear because some @$$**** keeps talking.

This is a problem especially near the back. And unfortunately I always sit near the back because I can't get to class on time.

2) People who keep saying "Omg, I'm gonna fail this test!" but end up making 90-95%. It gets especially annoying when I was so close to making an A and studied more than they did and was better prepared.

Happens in every single faculty at every university and college. Moving on....

3) Multiple-choice tests where you can guess on so many without understanding anything and ace it, whereas people who study a lot and understand the stuff get confused and tricked into picking the wrong answers. People who understand the material get B's and C's while those who didn't study keep guessing and get an A.

You don't understand how to write MCs, or your profs are incompetent at writing one.

4) People who like to ask "Is this going to be on the test?" just so they can try to goof off or not pay attention until class gets out. After they ask that question, they keep talking just because they sit in the back and think the professors can't hear them.

Doesn't really happen that much here. I think people have an expectation at my university that everything mentioned is gonna be on the test anyways.

One of my undergrad profs put something to the degree of "Is X going to be on the test? - ask this question only if you want to irritate the prof" during her first lecture last year, and I 'd. And no one ever asked that question again for the rest of the term.

5) People who forget to turn their phones on silent/vibrate or even off. I used to think it was very annoying in college when people's cell phones went off. I thought pharmacy students were supposed to be different about that.

We have a small class (~240 people) so I don't really notice this problem as much.

If it happens during exams though I get really ticked off. Seriously, we get bulletins every other week about this, it's in our syllabi for every course and yet there's always some dumb jock who fails to at least put their phone on vibrate.

 

[Sparda29]

We have a small class (~240 people) so I don't really notice this problem as much.

You call that small? That's a frikkin huge class. Our class is 64 students.

 

[SHC1984]

You call that small? That's a frikkin huge class. Our class is 64 students.

I was thinking the same thing. My class is 147 and thats HUGE too!

 

[crazybob]

yeah my class is 120 and i think that is huge. my graduating class in high school was around 110 and i thought that was a lot of people.

the only time we have more than 200 people in a room is during huge club meetings.

 

[eightball]

People who come to class with smelly foods and proceed to feast on them right next to you. Thats annoying.

People who ask questions about things they can clearly and easily look up at their leisure.

 

[crazybob]

People who come to class with smelly foods and proceed to feast on them right next to you. Thats annoying.

Yup, I see this at my school also.

People who ask questions about things they can clearly and easily look up at their leisure.

This slows us down sometimes. It seems to happen more with biochemistry than physiology.

 

[Sparda29]

People who think missing one day of studying is gonna make them fail. P2s have a therapeutics exam the week we get back and the P1s have some other exams.

We have a week off right now for some Jewish holiday here at Touro, I want to organize a one day trip to Six Flags for Frightfest, and out of 139 students, only 5 are interested in going.

 

[genesis09]

The average class size for a pharmacy school is about 80-90 students.

 

[crazybob]

The average class size for a pharmacy school is about 80-90 students.

at my school, i've seen on the graduating student surveys that out of 120, an average of 80-90 graduate in four years.

another thing that annoys me happened today. on friday, our biochem professor announced the possibility of a quiz, even though every correct answer would count as a bonus point, and would not count against us if we got any of them wrong.

and today this one annoying guy who sleeps through a lot of classes raises his hand and says "you said we might have a quiz today. so are we going to have a quiz?" and a lot of us just wanted to smack him on the head. this one girl sitting next to me said "can you move a little closer to i can hit you?" when she was looking at that guy across the room. she didn't say it out loud, of course.

 

[Carboxide]

at my school, i've seen on the graduating student surveys that out of 120, an average of 80-90 graduate in four years.

another thing that annoys me happened today. on friday, our biochem professor announced the possibility of a quiz, even though every correct answer would count as a bonus point, and would not count against us if we got any of them wrong.

and today this one annoying guy who sleeps through a lot of classes raises his hand and says "you said we might have a quiz today. so are we going to have a quiz?" and a lot of us just wanted to smack him on the head. this one girl sitting next to me said "can you move a little closer to i can hit you?" when she was looking at that guy across the room. she didn't say it out loud, of course.

Are you serious??? An extra-credit quiz?? I'd be asking too! Why WOULDN'T you want to take a quiz that is completely bonus points?? You're the crazy one.

 

[crazybob]

we just thought a quiz would be annoying since a lot of us haven't been able to pay attention in class due to people talking so much. and it also gets boring quite frequently for most of us when this teacher lectures.

 

[SHC1984]

Nothing in pharmacy school is worst than IPPE. I rather take an exam than do IPPE. Its a HUGE waste of time. If you attend a pharmacy school that does NOT require IPPE...Consider yourself lucky! Its the biggest waste of time and I think whoever made it up at my school must think we have nothing else better to do, so we must need busy work.

 

[Sparda29]

Nothing in pharmacy school is worst than IPPE. I rather take an exam than do IPPE. Its a HUGE waste of time. If you attend a pharmacy school that does NOT require IPPE...Consider yourself lucky! Its the biggest waste of time and I think whoever made it up at my school must think we have nothing else better to do, so we must need busy work.

It wouldn't be necessary if pharmacy schools mandated pharmacy experience prior to admission.

 

[medicalCPA]

Nothing in pharmacy school is worst than IPPE. I rather take an exam than do IPPE. Its a HUGE waste of time. If you attend a pharmacy school that does NOT require IPPE...Consider yourself lucky! Its the biggest waste of time and I think whoever made it up at my school must think we have nothing else better to do, so we must need busy work.

I believe that as part of ACPE accreditation standards, all pharmacy schools in the US require IPPEs.

 

[gwarm01]

lots of stuff

I'm actually in your class and I have a few things to say.

1. No one cares who you date, go crazy. There are a lot of hotties in our class.

2. I sit in the second row and I still have trouble focusing because of rude people talking too much, especially when our latest biochem professor is lecturing.

3. I hate people who sit on wikipedia or google all class just waiting for the opportunity to show up the professor on some minor or irrelevant detail.

 

[crazybob]

I'm actually in your class and I have a few things to say.

1. No one cares who you date, go crazy. There are a lot of hotties in our class.

there are also a lot of pretty girls in the P2 class

2. I sit in the second row and I still have trouble focusing because of rude people talking too much, especially when our latest biochem professor is lecturing.

i know. it gets so annoying when people think it's so funny and dumb that she actually wants us to respond to little questions she asks.

3. I hate people who sit on wikipedia or google all class just waiting for the opportunity to show up the professor on some minor or irrelevant detail.

i haven't noticed this. but i do know people will just stare at the handouts or slides and point out every little inconsistency because they can't figure out what it's supposed to be.

"Home Girl" today pointed out something dumb when she could have figured it out herself. lol you probably know who i'm talking about if you look at people when they ask questions in biochem.

 

[confettiflyer]

Nothing in pharmacy school is worst than IPPE. I rather take an exam than do IPPE. Its a HUGE waste of time. If you attend a pharmacy school that does NOT require IPPE...Consider yourself lucky! Its the biggest waste of time and I think whoever made it up at my school must think we have nothing else better to do, so we must need busy work.

mmm disagree there...I'm learning more in my hospital IPPE than in class, and meeting a lot of people....

c'mon SHC, you know it's all about who you know than what you know!

 

[SHC1984]

mmm disagree there...I'm learning more in my hospital IPPE than in class, and meeting a lot of people....

c'mon SHC, you know it's all about who you know than what you know!

I am doing a retail IPPE and its taking up my study time for biochem. It's hard enough to get an A in that class, I need all the study time that I can get! My A in that class right now is hanging by a thread...we have a quiz every week.

 

[confettiflyer]

I am doing a retail IPPE and its taking up my study time for biochem. It's hard enough to get an A in that class, I need all the study time that I can get! My A in that class right now is hanging by a thread...we have a quiz every week.

ok retail IPPE I can do without, they should let you waive out if you've worked in one before.

 

[SHC1984]

ok retail IPPE I can do without, they should let you waive out if you've worked in one before.

I know!!! Next year we have hospital IPPE too, but P2 year is suppose to be very hard. I don't see how we are going to find the extra time to do IPPE when we have a million things to study for. The people that make up these IPPE requirements must think pharmacy school is very easy and we have a lot of free time on our hands or something.

 

[crazybob]

I know!!! Next year we have hospital IPPE too, but P2 year is suppose to be very hard. I don't see how we are going to find the extra time to do IPPE when we have a million things to study for. The people that make up these IPPE requirements must think pharmacy school is very easy and we have a lot of free time on our hands or something.

you have IPPEs while you still have classes going on? at my school it's at the end of the P1 second semester. during the second semester of my P2 year, we have another IPPE, but that one is a bit longer, so our P2 second semester is shortened to 13-14 weeks.

 

[confettiflyer]

you have IPPEs while you still have classes going on? at my school it's at the end of the P1 second semester. during the second semester of my P2 year, we have another IPPE, but that one is a bit longer, so our P2 second semester is shortened to 13-14 weeks.

I have IPPE during the year also...it's built into the curriculum @ 3hrs per week. If you have issues studying for exams with a 3 hour block, you've got bigger problems to worry about.

I actually prefer this to other schools who require students to find their own sites and do it over the summer. I had a full, uninterrupted summer from May to September...feel sorry for those blokes, and I feel sorry for all the preceptors in the area fielding phone calls from dozens of students looking for hours in an unstructured manner.

 

[crazybob]

I have IPPE during the year also...it's built into the curriculum @ 3hrs per week. If you have issues studying for exams with a 3 hour block, you've got bigger problems to worry about.

I actually prefer this to other schools who require students to find their own sites and do it over the summer. I had a full, uninterrupted summer from May to September...feel sorry for those blokes, and I feel sorry for all the preceptors in the area fielding phone calls from dozens of students looking for hours in an unstructured manner.

3 hours/week doesn't sound too bad. i mean it would just feel like going to another class (except at a different location), right? does it actually feel like that?

 

[SHC1984]

I have IPPE during the year also...it's built into the curriculum @ 3hrs per week. If you have issues studying for exams with a 3 hour block, you've got bigger problems to worry about.

I actually prefer this to other schools who require students to find their own sites and do it over the summer. I had a full, uninterrupted summer from May to September...feel sorry for those blokes, and I feel sorry for all the preceptors in the area fielding phone calls from dozens of students looking for hours in an unstructured manner.

Ours is 5 hours per week. But we have papers to write on the side too and assignments to do etc....its just very inconvient for me to drive that far when I can be sitting at home instead. Pharmacy school includes a TON of busy work. (too many for me to name but IPPE is a good example) I am used to having 4 exams per class for every class (go to class and then go home kind of deal) and not have all these extra busy work on the side. I think what makes pharmacy school so much more tedious than undergrad is the fact that undergrad we have normal classes (4 exams per class) and in pharmacy school we have class with exams and a TON of useless crap on the side to waste our time.

 

[confettiflyer]

3 hours/week doesn't sound too bad. i mean it would just feel like going to another class (except at a different location), right? does it actually feel like that?

Yeah it really isn't bad, I like my hospital site, I end up staying longer than the 3hrs just shootin' the breeze with the pharmacists.

Ours is 5 hours per week. But we have papers to write on the side too and assignments to do etc....its just very inconvient for me to drive that far when I can be sitting at home instead. Pharmacy school includes a TON of busy work. (too many for me to name but IPPE is a good example) I am used to having 4 exams per class for every class (go to class and then go home kind of deal) and not have all these extra busy work on the side.

Yeah we got hit with busy work too but they cut down after getting feedback from us.

I agree with the busy work thing....I swear I'm doing things that just aren't relevant and are for show. I just threw together a paper on cultural competency...ugh, no one in my class really cares.

Give me pharm related classes and exams and get me out of here.

 

[SHC1984]

We have some of the stupidest busy work...to name a few....

1) we have to find a random patient that we don't know thats not related to us and the patient has to have a chronic disease. And we have to interview the patient and ask him or her questions about his/her disease. We have conduct TWO interviews for this patient. One this semester and one next semester.

2) We have to do 16 hours of servicing learning (community service pretty much or should I say free labor work? ) per semester.

3) Have a poster presentation due.

4) have a group project due. I hate working in groups I like to work by MYSELF. This isn't high school why are we in groups???

I have more to list but don't want to keep you here all night, but yeah I think everyone get the point. Pharmacy school is not hard b/c the exams are hard. The exams are okay, its the busy work that makes pharmacy school a pain to go through.

They should have a rule. All classes should only have 4 multiple choice exams PERIOD. NO other work needed. No posters, no ippe, no papers, no nothing.

 

[crazybob]

1) we have to find a random patient that we don't know thats not related to us and the patient has to have a chronic disease. And we have to interview the patient and ask him or her questions about his/her disease. We have conduct TWO interviews for this patient. One this semester and one next semester.

4) have a group project due. I hate working in groups I like to work by MYSELF. This isn't high school why are we in groups???

They should have a rule. All classes should only have 4 multiple choice exams PERIOD. NO other work needed. No posters, no ippe, no papers, no nothing.

1) That actually sounds interesting. I think I would enjoy that.

4) Do you get to pick your group mates? If so, then it doesn't have to be so bad. If not, then I could see why you wouldn't like it.

 

[SHC1984]

1) That actually sounds interesting. I think I would enjoy that.

4) Do you get to pick your group mates? If so, then it doesn't have to be so bad. If not, then I could see why you wouldn't like it.

No we don't get to pick, we are assigned in groups. I don't like working in groups. I prefer just taking an exam and being DONE. Papers, posters, and other busy work takes too long.

 

[confettiflyer]

No we don't get to pick, we are assigned in groups. I don't like working in groups. I prefer just taking an exam and being DONE. Papers, posters, and other busy work takes too long.

we have the exact same assignment, differences are:

1) we're assigned into groups with 2 medical students, a nursing student, and PT/OT. We meet this pt ~2x a semester on our own and compile reports/assignments.

2) this is actually kind of fun...but i lucked out with a cool group and an 85yo pt who likes to play Nintendo Wii and who likes feeding us.

no posters though. and man it'd be a dream if we had 4 multiple choice exams and that's it.

 

[crazybob]

we have the exact same assignment, differences are:

1) we're assigned into groups with 2 medical students, a nursing student, and PT/OT. We meet this pt ~2x a semester on our own and compile reports/assignments.

2) this is actually kind of fun...but i lucked out with a cool group and an 85yo pt who likes to play Nintendo Wii and who likes feeding us.

no posters though. and man it'd be a dream if we had 4 multiple choice exams and that's it.

Do you think you work well with the medical students and the nursing student?

 

[SHC1984]

we have the exact same assignment, differences are:

1) we're assigned into groups with 2 medical students, a nursing student, and PT/OT. We meet this pt ~2x a semester on our own and compile reports/assignments.

2) this is actually kind of fun...but i lucked out with a cool group and an 85yo pt who likes to play Nintendo Wii and who likes feeding us.

no posters though. and man it'd be a dream if we had 4 multiple choice exams and that's it.

We have to find our own patient. I might think its "fun" when I finally find a patient! Your patient does sound really cool.

Actually ALL of our exams have been multiple choice so far. In undergrad my biochem exams were never multiple choice, but now everything is multiple choice and I love it! But all the extra busy work is very new to me!

 

[Sparda29]

I know!!! Next year we have hospital IPPE too, but P2 year is suppose to be very hard. I don't see how we are going to find the extra time to do IPPE when we have a million things to study for. The people that make up these IPPE requirements must think pharmacy school is very easy and we have a lot of free time on our hands or something.

I wish we had that ****. We don't get to find our own sites, we gotta pick from some school approved sites that gets run through some E-Value lottery. Then we have to pick 2 months from either January, June, July, or August to do the IPPE.

 

[Sparda29]

We have some of the stupidest busy work...to name a few....

1) we have to find a random patient that we don't know thats not related to us and the patient has to have a chronic disease. And we have to interview the patient and ask him or her questions about his/her disease. We have conduct TWO interviews for this patient. One this semester and one next semester.

How will they figure out if they are related to you? I used my aunt who has lupus. Hell, I didn't even conduct an interview. I just asked her if I could look though her medicine bag and did research on the disease myself.

 

[SHC1984]

I wish we had that ****. We don't get to find our own sites, we gotta pick from some school approved sites that gets run through some E-Value lottery. Then we have to pick 2 months from either January, June, July, or August to do the IPPE.

We don't get to choose a site, they pick for us. We do it either during the fall or spring semester. 5 hours per week. You should do it in June, get it over with, so you will have more study time during the school year.

 

[SHC1984]

How will they figure out if they are related to you? I used my aunt who has lupus. Hell, I didn't even conduct an interview. I just asked her if I could look though her medicine bag and did research on the disease myself.

+1

Good thinking! I might try that!

 

[Sparda29]

We don't get to choose a site, they pick for us. We do it either during the fall or spring semester. 5 hours per week. You should do it in June, get it over with, so you will have more study time during the school year.

Yeah, I already had to deal with that ****ing **** last year. I had mines in June and August. ****ing one month summer. Pissed me off a lot. I was miserable through the August IPPE since I had to deal with that **** right after breaking up with my ex.