Summer Pharmacy Internship-Day 1

I've been back to work for two days now, but today was my first "real" day as a pharmacy intern. I was just goofing around, soaking in the work flow and getting myself reoriented with the computer system yesterday. Today went by really quickly with no major "rushes." The pace of work was pretty steady throughout the day, which was pretty untypical for most pharmacies. I'm glad that I didn't have to work through any angry/very anxious patient of a long line.

My sister, the main pharmacist and owner, had a lot of confidence in me. She allowed me to pretty much counsel patients on most of the medications and showed me where to look for more information when I needed them. However, when the patient was standing in front of me and there were other people waiting around for me to help them, it was pretty hard to read up quickly and have enough confidence to counsel on the drug if I didn't already have prior knowledge. I did my best at what I knew how to counsel and found it easier to just ask her about the unfamiliar prescriptions and had her answer questions that I did not feel confident in addressing.

Through counseling, I was able to put my "Emergency Contraception Training" to work, pull up some basic knowledge on heartburn medicines to answer the patient's questions, explain to parents how to give antibiotic suspensions to their children with the proper storage information, learn how to communicate with patients with limited spoken language skills through writing and body language. I didn't feel totally comfortable in my consultation role but figured I had, in general, made a positive impact in projecting the image of pharmacists as friendly community resources.

Hardest Final-DONE!

I felt so light this morning after finishing the pharm chem exam. I am SO glad I was able to study for it despite having woken up feeling really spiritless and crappy yesterday morning. Stress from finals really hit me hard this time I just freaked out yesterday afternoon when I felt I didn't have the needed energy to make it through studying for pharm chem! After staring at the syllabus for about 20 minutes and a few sneezes, I decided that I really needed to take care of my body. Luckily, after a stinky bowl of Chinese herbal decoction (my apartment is still smelling like a Chinatown herbal shop today from the cooking of it) and about an hour of nap time, I was able to squeeze in about six hours of productive studying. Although I couldn't calm worries (and didn't sleep well as a result), I was able to provide answers to all question and think I did at least well enough to get a B in the class. I would be SO happy if I got an A though. I'm normally not obsessed over grades but for some reason, getting an A in pharm chem was one of my goals for this quarter. It's so lame. I know!

Nerves, Crazy Nerves!

The anatomy exam is in an hour and I'm extremely shaky! Those damn nerves! For some reason, I'm letting them take over my body again. I need to take a deep breath and know that I will be okay regardless of the exam score. After all, I only need less than 50% to pass the class! How I wish we don't have letter grades like the medical students!

Public Speaking

After three presentations in front of my classmates, I am really convinced that I need a lot more practice in public speaking. I don't mind presenting information in front of a big group but I don't know why I get so nervous at times. I wish I could control my emotions in ALL of my presentations and not let my nerves get the most out of me. Unfortunately, I sometimes tend to get really shaky and trip over my words or start babbling and make a total fool of myself.

Oh well...I just have to conquer my fears and speak up more in front of big groups. I wonder if there's a class that I can take to improve on my public speaking skills.

Results: OTC/Herbal Patient Counseling Competition

I was thrilled to find out that Hilary and I won second place for the OTC/Herbal Patient Counseling Competition. It felt really good to know that we had done well given my nervousness at the time. It's a confirmation that I have at least learned something during the crazy spring quarter of the first year in pharmacy school and actually retained it well enough to counsel a patient. I'm looking forward to this summer's internship at my sister's pharmacy, when she will let me do a lot of patient counseling. It will be a good break from studying. I'm ready to put the books aside and do some hands-on learning...while making money and spending time with my family (my mom also works there!).

BURNT OUT

My time has been occupied mostly by things other than studying these days. I don't feel the urgency to cram even though there are five finals to take next week and I haven't really touched my books since the midterms. What happened to the "eager-to-learn" me? I have no more energy and can't wait till Friday of next week! Sigh.

Integrative Medicine Forum

After months of hard work and planning, the one-day Integrative Medicine Forum was a huge success with a turnout of close to 300 participants. Attendees ranged from UCSF students to members of the different communities within San Francisco. As one of the organizers of the forum, I was very busy trying to make sure that everything was going well, especially with breakfast and lunch. By the time I took care of all the meal-related stuff, I was too tired to participate in any workshops or lecture. Therefore, I went through the whole day of the forum without learning anything from the speakers.

From the feedbacks of my classmates and the written evaluations, I found out that Dean Ornish was very inspirational and many of the workshops were interesting. Despite the limited vegetarian option and lack of choices for lunch, people who had suggestions for improvement in food expressed great satisfaction with the quality of the forum. Many commented on the great level organization and comprehensive selection of speakers.

Being part of the planning committee, which was composed mainly of first-year medical students, involved a lot of time and energy. We started to meet and plan since January, in order to get speakers and food donations. I never imagined myself to be someone who would ask businesses for donations; I took over the position unwillingly, but learned a lot from doing it. I wish I had more control of the lunch situation.

I don't know how event planners do it, but it takes so much time and organization to put a big event together. I probably will never take up event planning as my job. It's so stressful!