Post 2nd Round of Midterms

This week was as busy as ever with another round of midterms and flurry of various club meetings. We took our last physical chemistry midterm, which was the most challenging out of the three that we have taken in terms of the material. Ever since we switched professors from Voigt to Schaffer, our lectures and homeworks have become increasingly complex. Part of the difficulty comes from Schaffer using calculus-based explanations of the material, for example understanding equilibrium between a pure liquid with its vapor as a discontinuity between two chemical potential curves, but mostly it is the result of shifting the focus of the class from understanding the concept of state functions to thermodynamics applicable to protein binding and pharmacodynamic studies. I enjoy this second half of the course much more because it is conceptually challenging while still keeping the problem solving understandable (basic calculus and algebra).

We also took our second biopharmaceutics midterm, which went ok. I could have done better since this class is really a simplified version of the pharmacology class that I took in undergrad at UCSD. Our curve was exceptionally high, with about 85% of the class getting an A. This is somewhat intimidating coming from undergrad classes where the curve was 50-60% which allowed you to make mistakes. But I suppose the expectations in biopharm and clinical pharmacy are a lot higher since the material is relatively easier and absolutely applicable to your future career. Every time I make a mistake I think about what a miscalculated dose could do to a patient. I wonder if this burden will ever go away (probably not).

As for extracurriculars….Here are a few out of many…

APhA is having its annual Patient Counseling Competition and a whopping 70 pharmacy students signed up to compete! This is about three times the number in previous years and can only be attributed to a growth of participation in my fellow classmates. I went to the info night and watched the video of last year’s national winner of the competition, also UCSF pharmacy student Eric Ip, counsel a patient in the national competition. He was so thorough when it came to knowing any side effects, customizing his responses to the patient’s needs, and reviewing proper dosage instructions. I still can’t believe he only had 5 minutes to prepare for the session. I realize that I have a lot to learn before I can reach his level.

Last week, we turned in our pledge cards for which fraternity we would pledge for. There are only two pharmacy fraternities at UCSF: Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Chi. From talking to the members, my impression is that Kappa Psi is more social (work hard play hard mentality) while PDC is like a low-key sorority. Pharmacy is already severely polarized (our class with about 100 females and 20 males), so it doesn’t really help the integration of the class when most of the males, non-asian ethnicities, and other minorities all pledged Kappa Psi. The break down this year was 75 pledged KY and only 20 pledged PDC (it was about 50:50 last year). They surprised us this week with breakfast and carnations in the morning before class. I never joined a frat in undergrad, so having such an intense frat presence in my school experience is very different for me. It is nice to have organizations that bring different class levels together.

We had a mandatory meeting for the California Society of Health Pharmacists information session about the conference in Anaheim Dec. 3^rd through 7^th. A large number of our class is interested, especially since the school will reimburse up to 184 dollars of the registration fees.

Also, there have been a series of talks given by some of the major experts in the developments in Medicare Part D. I am really happy that I came to UCSF so that I can hear some of these professors and 4^th year pharmacy students give these really informative talks about what a donut hole is, how late sign-ups for Part D can result in penalties, how benzodiazepines/barbiturates are not covered under the formularies, differences between this program and state run insurance plans, etc.