WOW I’ve officially been a P1 for 1 month!!! The honeymoon phase is over and we're getting down to business. We’ve been moving lighting fast everyday and there’s A TON of information to digest. This brings me to a line my advisor gave me a few weeks ago;
“Pharmacy school is like trying to get a sip of water from a fire hydrant"
Guys……I’ve never heard truer words in my life. Between 3 hour lectures, daily club/organization meetings (with free food!), Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE), studying AND interning one day a week - it gets overwhelming very quickly. With that being said, I’ve put together a few things I’ve learned in this CRAZY month as a baby "pharmie":
Time management
Honestly, we all think we've mastered time management throughout our undergraduate degree...but we're wrong. Honestly there's not enough hours in the day to sit in lectures, get a good workout in, study for 10 hours AND get 8-10 hours of sleep. There's just no way. BUT we can try!
Here's how I've been managing:
ANY DOWN TIME IS STUDY TIME. I'm a morning person and tend to wake up before my alarm (sometimes 30 minutes before and sometimes 2 hours before). During this time I go ahead and get dressed, pack my lunch and also grab my mug and K-cup before heading out to the library. I camp out in the library until class getting pre-readings done, finishing up things I didn't the night before, or even starting a quizlet for any upcoming examinations or quizzes.
CALENDAR: Prior to starting my PharmD/MPH I swore by my paper planner.....this has 100% changed. Google calendar has been my lifeline in the last 2-3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I freaking love my Erin Condren Academic Planner but it's just not the same. Throughout the school week I'm on my laptop or iPad MOST of the day ; annotating powerpoints, working on a google doc with group mates, making a quizlet/study guide, and more. The ease of opening the saved Google Calendar tab on my MacBook, iPad & iPhone in 2 seconds is just A M A Z I N G. Another bonus is that my program has its own Google Calendar for events, meetings and more which we can sync into our own google calendars and I can't express HOW GREAT IT IS. Plus, I always have either my phone, laptop or iPad with me (most of the time all 3 lol) so I literally always have access to my calendar!
Clubs and Connections
JOIN, JOIN, JOIN! Okay, don't join everything but do join something! There are several awesome clubs and organizations at my school so I took advantage of attending several free meetings to get a feel of what they offer PRIOR to paying dues and being stuck. Why? They offer connections, advice and expose you to all kinds of routes one can take in the world of pharmacy!
As most of you know, I'm VERY interested in the clinical specialities such as Infectious diseases, oncology and transplant - so naturally I joined the American College of Clinical Pharmacy student chapter at my school. This specific chapter offers AMAZING opportunities such as resident shadowing, mentorships and cool guest speakers (listened to a critical care pharmacist yesterday!).
Secondly, I joined the Student National Pharmaceutical Association. SNPhA is an educational service association of pharmacy students who are concerned about the profession of pharmacy, healthcare issues, and the poor minority representation in these areas. The purpose of SNPhA is to plan, organize, coordinate, and execute programs geared toward the improvement of the health, educational, and social environment of minority communities. If you've been following along, I'm not just a PharmD student but am also pursuing my MPH so the improvement of health, education and social environment of minority communities really hits home for me!
Side note: I'll be at the APhA Region 3 Midyear Regional Meeting so please let me know if you'd like to meet up!
I made sure to have business/connection cards to hand out to possible mentors and future colleagues! While an organization in my program is hosting a business card fundraiser - I really wanted to create my own and "stand out".
Winning and Losing
It’s honestly okay to take and “L” every now and then! If you followed along in my IG stories several days ago, you heard my “rant” about winning and losing some. This came after a 4 exam school week during which I had some high highs and some low lows. I was sooo bummed and felt like an imposter after acing several quizzes/examinations prior and then bombing (and I mean bombing) one along the way. After venting to mommy and lover THEN GETTING FREE CHIPOTLE, I put my big girl panties on and proceeded to study for my next exam.
In the long run it was one of those “humbling” experiences we hear about being students. We simply can’t win them all, BUT we can push through and continue on our path of becoming the providers we aim to be!
What do you call a doctor that failed an exam in medical school?
A DCOTOR!
It’s okay!
Taking a Break or Nap
Honestly the header says it all. I can't tell you how many times I felt defeated, stressed or just exhausted and decided to take a quick 30-45 minute nap. Y'ALL I WAKE UP A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. Taking a nap has helped me regroup, refocus, and basically find a new purpose/inspiration to push through (and I'm less grumpy).
For long class days I've found myself going home after my last class (~ 05:30 pm) to take a quick nap, cook/pick up dinner, and go immediately to the library (In my comfy sweatpants, hoodie and slippers of course) until I've completed everything on my to-do list.
A break or nap MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
Keep in mind, these are changes I've made in the last month that have helped ME along the way! It's okay if you can't take a nap to regroup or you're not into electronic calendars!
The main takeaway is to make the changes needed to keep YOU on track to becoming a BOMB.COM Provider!
- Ruuds
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