Spring quarter of the second year marks the beginning of a series of therapeutics courses that drives all of us to the brink of stress-induce anxiety episodes. The class is 6 units, which composed of 6 hours of lectures and 1 and 1/2 hours of conference weekly AND many many hours of self-study. It incorporates all the relevant subjects we have learned thus far in pharmacy school (physiology, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry, etc) in one giant and scary class.
There is so much to memorize and synthesize. The worst part is that we don't get to use our notes in conferences, when we have to read cases and decide how to best treat the patients. There are so many acronyms and lab values that I have never seen before. Furthermore, it feels like I am racing through the materials without having enough time to digest them even though I have reviewed the relevant lectures before each conference.
Our first oral exam will be coming up next week. We will have thirty minutes to read the case, write all the pertinent information down in a Subjective/Objective/Assessment/Plan (SOAP) format and then fifteen minutes to present the patient with the treatment recommendations and counseling points to the examiners. I definitely need to practice with my classmates before the exam!
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