Keeping Old Notes/Books?

[josh6718]

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Just curious if anyone here kept their notes/books from when they graduated? I'm in the process of getting ready to move out of state and trying to decide what (if any) of all the stacks of binders and books I have is worth keeping.

I figure that most of the lecture notes are now outdated (with newer treatment guidelines in place). And for the books, despite costing several hundred dollars at the time- all have newer editions available.

 

[awval999]

Recycle. Garbage. Donate.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Just curious if anyone here kept their notes/books from when they graduated? I'm in the process of getting ready to move out of state and trying to decide what (if any) of all the stacks of binders and books I have is worth keeping.

I figure that most of the lecture notes are now outdated (with newer treatment guidelines in place). And for the books, despite costing several hundred dollars at the time- all have newer editions available.

I hung onto mine for a while, saying I'd need them one day.

Finally tossed them.

 

[Rouelle]

All of my lecture notes were electronic. I kept but have never used them. I saved a few reference books and consult them occasionally (Lexi drug info handbook, etc)

 

[PharmDBro2017]

You'll never go back and look at notes, at least after your naplex is over. Burn them.

I'm keeping my text books, just put them on a shelf at home to look good at least. May reference them eventually, may not.

 

[Corpseman]

Keep your rxprep book if you absolutely need something and recycle the rest.

 

[gwarm01]

Mine have been sitting in a box for 4 years. You'll never look at them again.

 

[FarmD711]

I had a bonfire the last night of my last rotation. I had rxprep to study for the naplex so I didn't even save them for that.

It was very satisfying burning a course at a time and remembering how awful some of them were.


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[njac]

Meanwhile I used some
Of my old textbooks this week while writing a CE lecture.

Depends what you're doing with your life/career.


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[lord999]

More than a decade later, I think the only one I looked at was Ansel's Calculations, and that was to remind me of a mOsm calculation method that I plainly forgot (and still don't remember now). Get rid of your books, and find a Half-Price Books or Amazon if you want to buy your old editions back someday (which you probably don't). If you still have a Thompson's or a compounding book, that is also probably worth keeping around even if you don't practice in that area.

 

[297point1]

What I kept initially: practically everything

What was gone after 3 years: practically everything. Lugging around copies of DiPiro, Harrison's, and Goodman & Gilman across the country grew tiring pretty fast; I took it as a clear sign when I was packing for a move and realized I hadn't unpacked a few of these since the last move.

What I've kept all these years:
- Pharmaceutical calculations text (Stoklosa/Ansel, 9th Ed.) - still useful on occasion
- The management text (Effective Pharmacy Management, 7th Ed.)
- Five textbooks on statistics and data analysis

 

[zelman]

I bought a guillotine paper cutter and a high speed scanner, cut the bindings off all my books, scanned 'em all, and now access them on cloud storage if I need something.

 

[Rouelle]

On second thought, although I kept my textbooks, I haven't actually used any of them. It's the reference books that I still look at on occasion.

-Pediatric and neonatal dosage handbook
-Drug information handbook
-Drugs in pregnancy and lactation

Everything else just fills a shelf on my bookcase

 

[gwarm01]

I bought a guillotine paper cutter and a high speed scanner, cut the bindings off all my books, scanned 'em all, and now access them on cloud storage if I need something.

Now this actually sounds useful. Especially if you could do a batch search over every document to quickly find keywords.

 

[El Trombopag]

There was a bsa adjustment for amputees that I dug out once, that's been it for the six years everything has been boxed up.


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[RxPreceptor]

Lecture notes (especially power point) are not very handy to keep anyways; they are a nightmare in terms of keeping information in context (disorganized). As others have suggested, have a good organized reference material handy (peripheral brain for pharmacists, work site specific dosing protocols, drug info charts from pharmacists letter).

Also, just invest in a good drug reference app that has news updates (I.e. Lexicomp). Unfortunately, guidelines are ever changing with time; might as well invest CE credits towards those centered around ones like ADA, GOLD, AHA, JNC, NAEPP, WHI, ATP, etc.

 

[rph3664]

I had very few textbooks after I got into the pharmacy program, and sold those when I didn't need them anymore. My notes went into the recycle bin as soon as I knew I had passed my boards.

 

[zelman]

Now this actually sounds useful. Especially if you could do a batch search over every document to quickly find keywords.

Yup. They're all searchable PDFs and when I search on Microsoft's Onedrive storage, it looks at the contents.