Little details, or the big picture?

[hye345]

I know that pharmacy involves a lot of chemistry, but I have a question for practicing pharmacists: does your daily work involve focusing on minute chemical details (moles, different atoms/elements, etc...), or does it focus more on the big picture medically?

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[KARM12]

I know that pharmacy involves a lot of chemistry, but I have a question for practicing pharmacists: does your daily work involve focusing on minute chemical details (moles, different atoms/elements, etc...), or does it focus more on the big picture medically?

Big picture for the most part...sometimes the difference in chemical structure is important for choosing which drug in a class.

 

[medicament]

Big picture for the most part...sometimes the difference in chemical structure is important for choosing which drug in a class.

What kind of setting do you work in?

 

[SexyPlexi]

medicament - cute name

 

[MountainPharmD]

I know that pharmacy involves a lot of chemistry, but I have a question for practicing pharmacists: does your daily work involve focusing on minute chemical details (moles, different atoms/elements, etc...), or does it focus more on the big picture medically?

Yep, I find myself constantly referencing my O-Chem book. Oh yeah, do not forget my med-chem book and biochemistry as well....

 

[Quiksilver]

in my experiences thus far, you need a molecular understanding to get the big picture.

 

[shikamaru]

So I'm bound for pharmacy school starting Fall 2008. What would you guys say are the most important undergrad courses that would help me succeed in pharmacy school? Ideally I'd want to review the most, most important classes since I won't have much time to brush up on things before pharmacy school starts. I have heard that going over ochem, biochem, and physiology would help a lot. Is that ochem 1 + 2 or just 1 or what? What about genchem? Ugh I didn't like genchem much .

Anything else I'm missing? I heard med chem and therapeutics are probably the most important classes in pharmacy school, and so I'd imagine whatever I learn in there to be the main fundamentals that I will need when I begin practicing as a pharmacist.

 

[PharmDstudent]

So I'm bound for pharmacy school starting Fall 2008. What would you guys say are the most important undergrad courses that would help me succeed in pharmacy school? Ideally I'd want to review the most, most important classes since I won't have much time to brush up on things before pharmacy school starts. I have heard that going over ochem, biochem, and physiology would help a lot. Is that ochem 1 + 2 or just 1 or what? What about genchem? Ugh I didn't like genchem much .

Anything else I'm missing? I heard med chem and therapeutics are probably the most important classes in pharmacy school, and so I'd imagine whatever I learn in there to be the main fundamentals that I will need when I begin practicing as a pharmacist.

With gchem, you need to know the Henderson Hasselbach equation to figure out the ionization of functional groups in acidic, basic, neutral pHs.

You don't really use ochem, except maybe nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution. The details of the reactions are not necessarily important, rather what happens to the molecules under different conditions. There are reactions called Phase I and Phase II.

I dug up my notes/my friend's notes just for you! I'll reference all of this to Wikipedia, because I'm sure you can find the same info there too.

Phase I reactions include: aromatic hydroxylation, aliphatic cycloalkyl hydroxylation, aliphatic side chain hydroxylation, epoxidation of an alkene or alkyne, N/O/S-dealkylation, deamination, simple oxidation of primary or secondary alcohols/aldehydes, carbonyl reduction of aldehyde/ketone, and hydrolysis of ester/lactone/carbamate/amide/sulfonamide/lactam.

Phase II reactions are (these are more pharmacy related, but you could read about them if you wanted to): glutathione reaction of halides/epoxides, glucuronidation of primary amine/alcohol/COOH, acetylation of primary amine, sulfate reaction of aromatic alcohol/aromatic amine, and glycine reaction of COOH.

Know what functional groups look like, which ones are acidic/basic, and their pKas: acidic (aromatic alcohols 10, COOH 5, sultam 10, sulfonamide 8, sulfonic acid 1, ureide 10, imide 10, thiophenol 10) basic (amine 10, aromatic amine 5, imine 10, aromatic imine 5, guanidine 14).

For me, the most useful classes in pharmacy school, thus far, have been chemistry or chemistry related. I really enjoyed learning about NSAIDS, and how they cause primary and secondary insult. COX inhibitors such as IBU, Indocin, Piroxicam, Celecoxib were cool and not cool at the same time, Vioxx and Bextra.

I could go one forever, so I'll stop unless you have a question.

PS- I hated physiology, but it's a necessary evil.

 

[shikamaru]

Wow PharmDstudent thank you very much for the reply! Looks like I will have a field day on reviewing materials later. Actually something that I worry about is my own "worth" or "ability" as a graduating senior in college. I am majoring in Neuroscience but I feel like I know nothing. I took all my ochem over a year ago and I remember nothing. My retention of stuff I learned seriously makes me question myself, like if I am really worthy to call myself a bio major. This is why I asked my questions here because I certainly don't want to feel the same way I do now when I'm going through pharmacy school !

As for questions, any take on biochem? I took that a year ago (I'm really just taking all my Neuroscience classes now and nothing really pharmacy-related), but I do remember learning glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle, enzyme kinetics, and the electron transport chain. Would reviewing any of these be beneficial for pharmacy school? Thank you SO much for your time !

PS. I will be taking physiology this winter quarter. I hear horror stories about that class and the fail rate at my school is 50-60% for it. Oh man I hope I like physio (and do well in it ).

 

[janeno]

Wow PharmDstudent thank you very much for the reply! Looks like I will have a field day on reviewing materials later. Actually something that I worry about is my own "worth" or "ability" as a graduating senior in college. I am majoring in Neuroscience but I feel like I know nothing. I took all my ochem over a year ago and I remember nothing. My retention of stuff I learned seriously makes me question myself, like if I am really worthy to call myself a bio major. This is why I asked my questions here because I certainly don't want to feel the same way I do now when I'm going through pharmacy school !

As for questions, any take on biochem? I took that a year ago (I'm really just taking all my Neuroscience classes now and nothing really pharmacy-related), but I do remember learning glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle, enzyme kinetics, and the electron transport chain. Would reviewing any of these be beneficial for pharmacy school? Thank you SO much for your time !

PS. I will be taking physiology this winter quarter. I hear horror stories about that class and the fail rate at my school is 50-60% for it. Oh man I hope I like physio (and do well in it ).

At my school, we have to take one year of biochem. Thus, we need to know everything including glycolysis, citric cycle, and all the other good stuff.

I think physiology is very useful for pharmacy school. I took physio in undergrad and I was glad I did, because at my pharm school physiology was 5 credits worth.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Wow PharmDstudent thank you very much for the reply! Looks like I will have a field day on reviewing materials later. Actually something that I worry about is my own "worth" or "ability" as a graduating senior in college. I am majoring in Neuroscience but I feel like I know nothing. I took all my ochem over a year ago and I remember nothing. My retention of stuff I learned seriously makes me question myself, like if I am really worthy to call myself a bio major. This is why I asked my questions here because I certainly don't want to feel the same way I do now when I'm going through pharmacy school !

As for questions, any take on biochem? I took that a year ago (I'm really just taking all my Neuroscience classes now and nothing really pharmacy-related), but I do remember learning glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle, enzyme kinetics, and the electron transport chain. Would reviewing any of these be beneficial for pharmacy school? Thank you SO much for your time !

PS. I will be taking physiology this winter quarter. I hear horror stories about that class and the fail rate at my school is 50-60% for it. Oh man I hope I like physio (and do well in it ).

Don't worry about retention right now. The material will "come back to you" when you go over it again in pharmacy school.

I think you have a fabulous major. It will really come in handy when you have to take Pharmacology. In that class, they really go into neurotransmitters. If you know the difference between muscarinic and nicotinic receptors, you're already ahead of the game.

As for Biochem, go back over those cylces. Enzyme kinetics and electron transport were covered in my pharmacy Biochem class. The emphasis may be a little different from what you learned in undergrad.

Did I answer all of the questions? I'm at my IPPE rotation right now, so I can't give the same kind of attention to my posts. I'm trying though!