Happy Holidays!

Hello!

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday! This year I decided to stay home in Georgia so I'm having a great time just spending time with my family and friends and of course my little dog Goofy.

I think he's excited I've been spending so much time with him...

Hope your breaks are as good as mine!

Katie

ASHP Midyear

December is an exciting time for pharmacy and not just because we're all looking forward to the holidays. All month long there are exciting events that take place. This December I was lucky enough to get to visit Orlando to experience the ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) Midyear Conference. It's held early every December in a different city and is the biggest conference of hospital pharmacists in the world. Pharmacists, residents and students come from all over to congregate, attend specialized classes and network.

As a student it's not only exciting to go and meet other students and pharmacists but it's also a great way to get a jump on residency planning. They have special programming for first, second and third year students on topics like interviewing, writing CVs and applying for residencies. Midyear is also where the Residency Showcase is held every year. The Residency Showcase is an important event where every hospital with an ASHP residency position sets up a booth for students to visit and ask questions, network and get information about the available positions. It's a great way to get your name out and meet the current residents and pharmacy representatives.

This year, since the conference was in Orlando, I piled in a car with a group of friends and we rented a nice condo for the week. It was so much fun! We attended the conference during the day and took advantage of the "mini-vacation" to go out and have some fun in the evenings. Since it's the holiday season we went to Mickey's Christmas Party at Disney one night and another we went to Universal Studios with other pharmacy students. It was a blast and I am so glad we all got to go.

Here is a teaser picture from the entrance to the convention. I will be posting more soon!

Katie

New Opportunities

One of my favorite things to talk about when it comes to the Pharmacy program here at GA-PCOM is always how many great opportunities we have for our students to get involved. I have always been an active member in my class and I have always been surprised at just how easy it is to get involved if you are willing to put in the time and effort. Because we are so new, and our school so close knit, there are always new windows of opportunities opening up for those who are looking.

This year I'm taking on a whole set of new challenges and openings at school. As I've mentioned before, earlier this year I was selected to chair the Clinical Skills Committee for ASHP (the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists) on our campus. It was a great chance to put on a fun event for our students that also gave them a great platform to practice the things we've all been working so hard to learn. It was also a chance for our two winning students to go represent our school on a national level at the ASHP Midyear meeting in Orlando and show off how much we've all learned.

In addition to chairing my committee I also had the opportunity to take on another position, that being the Student Government Association Representative for my class. The Student Government Association is just like SGAs at other schools in that we have representatives from all of our programs who all come together to help solve issues facing our students and school as a whole. What makes it fun is the diversity of our members. A lot of the people I've met have been students I've passed in the hall but never had the chance to interact with. It's also a great way to foster school spirit since we are all there because we love our school so much and want the make it the best it can be.

On that note I wanted to talk about something I get asked about a lot. Over the years, I've had a lot of people ask me why I chose to go to a school that was not a "guarantee". What they mean by that is why I chose to attend a school that was so new and still going through its accreditation phase. It all goes back to our people for me. We have such a wonderful group of individuals here. Faculty, staff and students are all committed to getting us to the "finish line" of graduating our first class. When I first visited the campus I was just as unsure about things as the people who asked me that question. What gave me the assurance to take this leap was definitely the people involved in this program. I've never met anyone I trust more with my future. They have put countless hours and effort into developing a state-of-the-art program that will enable its students to get the best preparation for their lives possible. We also have amazing students who work tirelessly to get the word out about our program and improve our community.

With that said, I am confident that the future of our program is bright. With the hard work of everyone involved, we will accomplish more than we yet know.

Katie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you are all sitting down to a great dinner with the ones you love!

Katie

Clinical Skills Pictures

As promise here are the photos from our 2013 Clinical Skills Competition:

Our Winners!

We had such a great time and can't wait to see our winners Saba Hasan (left) and Allison Rhoerhs (right) compete at ASHP Midyear in December.

I can't wait to do it again next year!

Katie

Case Study Day

Good Morning!

Today is Wednesday and that means it's Case Study Day for us third years.

Let me start first by explaining what a case study is here at PCOM. Almost every week throughout both our second and third years we meet with our advisee groups (groups of students who share the same adviser) and are given a patient case to review. We then, as a group, form a care plan for that patient.

In second year, when the cases are first presented they are fairly simple. The patient may only have one or two things that need to be corrected. This all changes as the year progresses and by the time third year has begun the cases can be very complicated with many things to consider.

During a case study we are first tasked to identify the patient's problems. That involves reviewing labs, past medical conditions and current complaints. We then must come up with a plan to treat the patient. The plan will include medications (with doses and scheduling), monitoring (labs and adverse effects) and goals for the patient. It seems like a lot of work but its actually a lot of fun.

Here is my group focused and working hard:

And again, having a little bit of fun this time:

Katie

A Busy School Year

Hey guys,

Life as a third year has been crazy busy! Working two jobs on top of classes has been difficult for me this term but I'm feeling great because we have a lot of exciting things in store in the coming year. One of the most exciting things coming up has to be our rotations. In fourth year all students go on eight five-week rotations at various places. There are several required rotations like Community and Community Management, Ambulatory Care, and Clinical Pharmacy. We also get to do three elective rotations (!!!). I have been busy picking out my top choices all year. I love pediatrics and it's what I want to do after I graduate so that's what I've been focusing on. Next year we should have both Pediatrics and Neonatology rotations and I'm hoping I can do one of those. It would be a great learning experience and would really help me with my residency plans.

And, of course, there are also lots of other exciting rotations that I can't help but spend time considering even if it not in my direct line of interest.

Some of the coolest ones have to be Poison Control, Infectious Disease and Critical Care.

Speaking of pediatrics, I wanted to share with you some photos of an event I did in my undergrad with a local elementary school. I worked with Future Healthcare Professions of America and we set up a booth where we tried to show kids that going to the doctor or dentist isn't scary.

I loved working the event and we got a great response. I look forward to getting a chance to work with pediatric patients in the future!

Katie

Clinical Skills Competition

Hey guys!

It's September and that means school is in full swing for me here at PCOM-GA. This year I'm a third year student which means this is my last year of classes. I honestly can't believe how fast the time has gone! It seems like only yesterday I was nervously sitting in my first class (Biochemistry) and now I'm preparing for the next big step in my life... rotations!

Even though my mind is on the months to come (and what will come after) I also am very involved in what's going on currently on campus. Since I am interested in pursuing a career in hospital pharmacy I have spent much of my time here at PCOM getting involved with ASHP, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. This year I was lucky enough to be snag a position that allows me to get more involved with the organization and positively impact my school. This year I was appointed to be the Chair of Clinical Skills. That means that I am in charge of putting together PCOM's Clinical Skills Competition. The CSC is an annual competition that is done first on a local level at all the pharmacy schools and then at a national level at the ASHP yearly meeting. The winners of our school's competition get to compete in the national competition in December.

If you remember last year, my very first blog post actually involved the Clinical Skills Competition. It was a blast and I learned a lot so this year I'm excited to get to put it together for other students.

As I've said before one if my favorite things about my school is how easy it is to get involved. We have new opportunities opening up every day and if your are interested in getting involved there is always something out there for you to do.


I will post pictures of the competition next month!

Katie

Orientation

As promised here are some of the photos of our new Class of 2017's orientation. We had a great time celebrating with them and it looks like they had a lot of fun too!

Working on the Class of 2017 Mission Statement:

Everyone's favorite:

Lots and lots of food!

Our wonderful faculty:

And last but not least our amazing Student Ambassadors!

Thanks to everyone who made it so much fun! 

Katie

The Start of a New Year

Hey guys!

It's the first day back at school and I hope all of you had as great a summer as I did. Like most incoming P3's I spent the summer working on earning my intern hours and trying to enjoy my last summer. And boy time flew by quick!

I wanted to share with you all a little about what a normal pharmacy school summer is like. At PCOM you get two summer breaks off. Since we get out of class early every day (only until noon on most days) we go a little later into the summer. This year we finished in early June (just in time for me to be off for my birthday). I took a little bit of time off that first week to relax and recover. Since I love backpacking so much we decided to go to Fort Mountain in North Georgia. It was beautiful and so much fun!

Here are some photos of my trip:

I then started working full steam. I work two jobs currently, first as a pharmacy intern and secondly as a research assistant. This summer I usually worked in the lab in the mornings and in the pharmacy in the afternoon and evening. It made my days really busy but I was able to usually get the weekends off by setting it all up that way.

The point of working so much during the summers of pharmacy school is to earn your intern hours. As of now, pharmacy students must earn 1500 intern hours in order to sit for their licensing exams in Georgia. At PCOM we earn 1000 hours from our IPPEs and APPEs. Georgia requires that you earn the other 500 hours on your own. If you put in a little bit of effort you can easily earn all of your hours over those two summers.

Working so much did make the summer fly by for me (or maybe it just went so quickly because it was my last!) but it was still really great. I was even able to take a few days to myself to escape to the beach and get a little tan before classes and orientation.

Next week I'll be sure to post to tell you a little about this years orientation!

Katie

Community Outreach Project 2013

Hey guys,

So this is the second year in a row I have been a part of our program's Community Outreach Project and it's probably my favorite event to be a part of each year. Last year I went with some of my classmates on behalf of the group to do a career day at a local elementary school. I've talked about it on here before so I won't go into too many details but it was a great experience. The kids were so smart and eager to learn about what we did that it was hard not to get caught up in their infectious attitudes. I left with a smile on my face and a great yearning to continue on with the project.  For me, it was definitely one of those moments when you realize you are definitely doing the right things with your life.

This year we wanted to take the project a step further so we did two main events. The first I was not a part of due to scheduling conflicts but I know my classmates had a wonderful time. They went back to the elementary school again but this time had the children make get well cards for patients at Gwinnett Medical Center. They brought pens and markers and crayons plus lots of paper and let the kids draw and write letters to bring some cheer to some GMC residents that were really in need.

The second half of the project had us visiting the long-term care facility at GMC. It was a beautiful afternoon when we set out and when we arrived at the facility we were greeted by the staff with open arms. We split up into pairs and went to meet some of the residents. I first met Miss Ida-Cade who was originally from Chattanooga. For those of you who don't know, Chattanooga is half-way between Atlanta and Nashville, where all of my family lives. I spent a lot of time while growing up in Chattanooga and we had a blast sitting and talking about her life there. I have always really enjoyed learning about people's lives and hearing their stories and I think it meant a lot to both of us that we were able to connect over a shared love of the city. I also spent a lot of time talking to other patients and handing out the children's cards. They were all so sweet and I think brought a lot of happiness to the resident's hearts.

Here is a picture of our group with Miss Elizabeth:

Miss Elizabeth was a perfect example of why I care so much about these events. Though she had a big smile on her face when she told us it was about to be her 96th birthday, I could tell she was very lonely. It really made her day when we gave her her card and talked about the little girl who had made it for her. Before we left we sang her happy birthday and she cried when she told us how much it meant to her. 

After we walked away from Miss Elizabeth I couldn't help but feel struck at what a huge impact she had made on my life in just a few short minutes. As health care providers it is important that we take care of our patients physically but it often doesn't occur to us how important it is to look further. We meet people like Miss Elizabeth daily and if we work a little harder to make a personal connection with our patients we have the chance to make a much bigger impact in their lives. 

I read recently about how pharmacists had dropped behind nurses in being "The Most Trusted Profession in America". It is not a competition for me, but I do feel like there is a call to our profession to earn that trust back. If we go out of our way to show our patients how much we care, to listen to their problems, and to be a part of their positive outcomes we will be able to do it. Even beyond that, we will positively impact and enrich our own lives.

Thank you Miss Elizabeth, I hope you have a very special birthday. 

Katie

Research Day at PCOM

Hello everyone!

Every year at PCOM we have a school wide (across both Philly campus and Georgia) day to celebrate all things research. Since I am a research student for the School of Pharmacy I was especially excited this year to attend all the planned events. I was most excited about the school's poster presentation session since I was able to participate for the first time.

When I started research last July I had never been in a "real" lab before. I remember being really intimidated by how complicated everything seemed but I was so happy to have the opportunity to work that I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. I dove head first into my research project that summer and as school started back in the fall I tried my best to keep working full steam. It was a difficult journey but with the help of my research professor and mentor Dr. Eric Wang I was able to get a lot of really great work done. When it came time to work on my presentation for research day I knew I had done something to be proud of.

The poster presentation session started out with a keynote speech by Brian Hallas, Ph.D. that was live-streamed from the Philadelphia campus . We then moved on to actual presentations. We had so many great posters presented that day from both professors and students from all of our programs. I met and talked with so many new people from our school and was able to share with them my work. It was a really fantastic experience. I was really nervous to present at first but it ended up being a really positive experience. It was also really great to see how hard everyone had been working and to mingle and learn about different areas of research. 

Here are some photos of the event:

And last but not least my personal favorite photo!

After all the hard work I've put in this year I was thrilled to find out that I'd won first prize for the School of Pharmacy! 

All in all it was a great experience and I'm already looking forward to next year's event. I can't wait to see what everyone brings to present! 

Katie

Health Fair Update

Hey guys! I hope things are going great for you all!

For those of you that read the blog regularly, you may remember that last month we had our first official school health fair. It ended up being a great success and a lot of fun. We had a great student turnout from all our pharmacy classes and a lot of students came from the DO program as well. I wanted to share with you some of the pictures of the event.

Here are some of the pictures courtesy of Jis Joseph, our resident P2 photographer.

I can't wait until we do it again next year!

Katie

The Class of 2014

May signals an exciting time for the pharmacy program here at PCOM. This month, our inaugural pharmacy class finishes the didactic portion of their curriculum and will head off to start their rotations. I am so excited for them and so very proud. To celebrate their big accomplishment I wanted to share a few memories I have had with them over the last few years.

I still remember the very first time I stepped into PCOM. It was early fall and I was deep in the middle of my undergrad career. I had RSVP'd to an open house event and when I left my house that evening to go to the school I really had no idea what to expect. That night, as I toured the campus and listened to presentations from faculty, I began to feel like I had already made my pharmacy school choice. And though I learned a lot about how great the school was that night, the thing that really sold me was my interactions with the student ambassadors. All the students I met that night were part of the inaugural class and I have to say, it was really because of them that I chose to make this school my home. Their excitement and deep sense of community permeated the campus and I knew this was where I wanted to start my pharmacy career. 

When I was in my first year of pharmacy school I knew I wanted to get involved with improving and building up our program but not having any real leadership background I didn't know quite where to start. The class of 2014 showed my the way starting with their encouragement to become a student ambassador. That was the path that eventually lead to be able to start this blog. I can also remember that year when a member of their class came to our classroom to talk about his role on the faculty's Curriculum Committee. Up until that point, I didn't know that such a position was even available. With some his guidance I was able to step up into the position and it's enabled me to really make an impact in our program.

When I started in the lab last summer I was totally lost. I had never done research before and I needed a lot of help to learn all the proper techniques and procedures. Dr. Wang's other research assistant Mei stepped up and spent all summer training me to carry on with research after she left the lab to start her third year. It was because of her hard work, along with Dr. Wang's, that I feel so confident in my abilities now. 

In addition to big impacts the class has had on me, I still think a lot about the little things. The laughs, the advice and the encouragement they shared with me went a long way toward making my time at PCOM really special. I am going to miss my friends as they move forward in their rotations but I could not be any happier for them. 

Thank you all for all you've done for your school and for your fellow students.

And congratulations!!!!

Katie

Social Events

It goes without saying that pharmacy students know how to work hard, but sometimes we have to take time to let our hair down. That being said, we take our social events seriously, and work hard to make them a lot of fun. Today I wanted to share with you pictures from some of the events we've had over the past few weeks.

These first pictures are from our beautiful formal! There was a great turnout from our pharmacy, DO and biomedical programs. I had such a great time dressing up and hitting the dance floor with my classmates. We also had a tasty dinner and a great view of the aquarium's biggest attractions. A big thanks to the students who put the event together, because it was definitely a night to remember. I can't wait to see how we top it next year!

Some of our third year students enjoying a last night out before High Stakes exams began!

These gorgeous photos are courtesy of Abhishek Achar (shown above, left).

Next up are some photos from our Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt. You may think egg hunts are just for kids, but you haven't experienced how entertaining it is to chase down candy filled eggs with your friends and  professors. This year, students won prizes like gift cards, pharmacy t-shirts and gift baskets. There was perfect weather outside as Georgia begins to warm up for the spring.  All of the money raised from ticket sales went to a good cause as well.

She may or may not have laid that egg.

Much thanks to Jis Joseph for the pictures of the Egg Hunt!

Katie

Under the Sea

Hey guys!

This whole week has been a busy one for all of us here at PCOM. In addition to planning for the health fair I talked about in my last post, we have all been getting ready for formal. Every year the student council members from each program get together and plan a formal for all of the classes to enjoy. This year it will be in the Georgia Aquarium Ballroom! Our aquarium is one of my favorite places in the world and I am thrilled we're having the formal there. The ballroom opens up to two exhibits, the Ocean Voyager exhibit and the Beluga Whale habitat. The belugas are my favorite!

Here are some photos from one of my trips to the aquarium over the years:

We've also been busy planning for next year. Over the last few weeks we have had elections for many of our clubs and organizations. I've had many friends run for positions and it's always great to see my classmates getting involved. It's always been really great seeing so many of our first year students taking on leadership positions. As I move begin to wrap up this year, I'm glad to see that our newest class wants to be just as involved as I have been. I know they will do a great job with their new positions.

Good luck to them all!

Katie

Health Fair

This week at PCOM we are starting to gear up for our school's first official health fair. It will be at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville, Georgia and will be staffed by our student volunteers. Our students have volunteered at many other health fairs but it's exciting to be planning one of our own. We've been working with the rest of the school to have students from all of our programs chip in so it will be a great tool to bring us all together as a school and help our community.

Some of the activities we have planned will focus on diabetes self-care, blood pressure monitoring, healthy eating, smoking cessation and immunizations. 

It will be a great opportunity for our students to fine tune their communication skills and to apply the information they've learned in classes all while improving the quality of life for people in our community. 

Here is a picture from a community event we did last year at a local elementary school.

I went with small group of students to the school and we were able to do a interactive presentation to classes of third graders on what being a pharmacist meant. They were so excited and it was so much fun!

Katie

Spring Break

Hey guys,

It's spring break A.K.A. "study break" here at PCOM and that means everyone's been taking a break to relax and recharge. I've had a great few days off and I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about some of the fun things we're doing for a break this year.

Georgia State Parks

Georgia is full of great parks and outdoors attractions if you love exploring nature. This month my good friend Will Brown and his girlfriend Courtney took these great photos of Tallulah Gorge. The next weekend I went camping and hiking there and it was a great cheap (and therefore student friendly) get away that we'll be repeating more this school year and summer.

Will and Courtney enjoying the views.

If you consider yourself more of a beach person than a mountain person we have a cure for that too. Savannah and Tybee Island are not too far away for a weekend getaway. Savannah is famous for it's St. Patrick's day celebrations but can be a lot of fun all year long. This spring break I decided to instead to go Pensacola, Florida. It's about a five hour drive from campus and is the beach is absolutely breathtaking. 

Here is a view of the sunrise from our hotel room:

And finally if you are most interested in city life, downtown Atlanta is only a half an hour away. This month there have been countless activities going on from concerts to arts and crafts shows to anime conventions. There is really something fun for everyone. 

And now it's time for me to get back to the grind and study for my Infectious Disease test. Hope you all have a great week!

Katie