Question for other students on rotations.

[Sparda29]

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How many of you feel that your school tends to exclude your class or not take the fact that you are on rotations into consideration when planning school activities/socials/formals, etc?

For example, our school scheduled the School Formal starting 7PM last night. (A Thursday). I don't know about everyone else, but it seems really odd that it would be on a Thursday night instead of a Friday night or a Saturday night.

Do they really expect us to be able to go to our rotations, then travel back home, get ready for the formal, go to the formal, and then finally expect us to go to rotations on Friday morning on time and not hungover (this part doesn't affect me since I don't drink, but if I'm staying out till like 2-3AM at night, there's a good chance that if I show to rotations at 9AM, I'm gonna be very sleepy and unable to think, and barely able to move after dancing on arthritic knees).

I mean, now after a select few of us P3s complained, the school required that anything that is planned be run by the P3 representative to make sure we're okay with it, but somehow the formal still ended up on a Thursday night.

 

[AlmostAPharmD]

I know it sucks, but once you start rotations, yes you won't be able to do as much as the students who aren't on rotations yet. To be honest I didn't participate at all in school events after starting rotations...partially a personal preference and partially due to being on rotations as you mention. Rotations are like a full time job, and I did believe most of the events are geared towards the underclassman. Cheer up though, go to the events that you are able to, and be glad you are closer to graduation than the students not on rotation.

 

[Sparda29]

I know it sucks, but once you start rotations, yes you won't be able to do as much as the students who aren't on rotations yet. To be honest I didn't participate at all in school events after starting rotations...partially a personal preference and partially due to being on rotations as you mention. Rotations are like a full time job, and I did believe most of the events are geared towards the underclassman. Cheer up though, go to the events that you are able to, and be glad you are closer to graduation than the students not on rotation.

I feel like I have more free time now that I'm on rotations. When I leave the rotation site, I can do whatever I want unless I have to go to work, no studying, no projects, etc. Perhaps this is because my last 3 rotations I've had preceptors who don't give me excessive projects or give me projects that I can complete within the 8 hours that I'm there. After I'm done with the rotation that day, I go to the gym, hang out at my friend's hookah bar, do some raids in World of Warcraft, play some Counter-Strike Source and Black Ops, train my parakeets, and still get decent amounts of sleep.

 

[AlmostAPharmD]

I feel like I have more free time now that I'm on rotations. When I leave the rotation site, I can do whatever I want unless I have to go to work, no studying, no projects, etc. Perhaps this is because my last 3 rotations I've had preceptors who don't give me excessive projects or give me projects that I can complete within the 8 hours that I'm there. After I'm done with the rotation that day, I go to the gym, hang out at my friend's hookah bar, do some raids in World of Warcraft, play some Counter-Strike Source and Black Ops, train my parakeets, and still get decent amounts of sleep.

I chuckled when you said you train your parakeets!! I didn't realize they were trainable. haha

 

[mustang sally]

The parakeet thing kind of cracked me up, too. I don't know why...I guess I just never envisioned you as a parakeet-training kind of person.

 

[Sparda29]

I chuckled when you said you train your parakeets!! I didn't realize they were trainable. haha

Yep, they are very social animals. You just have to make sure that they are less than 6 months old when you get them, and make sure that they have been hand-fed by the breeder as well as getting regular interaction with the breeder.

I have 2 parakeet.

One of them I bought from a bird store when it was like 1 month old, that one totally trusts me, does some tricks. It got hurt like a month after I got it, so after healing it, I think it realized that I'm not a predator. She will bite other people in the family though.

The other one I bought from Petco and I've had it for a little more than a year and it is still quite wild. It just learned to fly over to me like 2 months ago, but it will still fly away if it wants to.

The parakeet thing kind of cracked me up, too. I don't know why...I guess I just never envisioned you as a parakeet-training kind of person.

Yep, birds are my favorite types of animals. If I had the monetary resources and time, I'd have a pet falcon.

 

[pharm B]

Our school has it set up so that our rotations are almost entirely just our P4 year. We have mini ones throughout P2 and P3 year, but P4 year people beat feet out of town and are never really seen again until graduation. I've only met a few P4's due to fraternity/organizational stuff.

Anyone else dying to get to the hands-on part of all this? 😴

 

[rxlea]

B, don't you do IPPE?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

B, don't you do IPPE?

I figured that's what he meant by "mini rotations" during P2 and P3 year.

 

[rxlea]

I just got confused because he said he can't wait to do hands on stuff and I thought IPPE started in first year. But, I guess some do it later. I get it now.

 

[owlegrad]

I just got confused because he said he can't wait to do hands on stuff and I thought IPPE started in first year. But, I guess some do it later. I get it now.

Sadly, nothing I have done in 2 years of IPPE could be called "hands-on". More like "keep the 'interns' occupied". Everyone's experience with IPPE is different, of course. Mine has been consistently terrible. I am sure I will not be comparing my APPE experiences with my IPPE's. At least I hope not!

 

[UES Girl]

I just got confused because he said he can't wait to do hands on stuff and I thought IPPE started in first year. But, I guess some do it later. I get it now.

Ours are all through first year, second year is elective ippes. Rotations are half third year and fourth year. I like it this way. 🙂

Sparda, you are lucky you even can go to a formal. Our P3 s are pretty much excluded from everything once they go on rotations - it's almost like they don't even exist.

 

[bacillus1]

I can't say that it interferes with formals or social activities, since our school doesn't plan formals or social activities.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Sadly, nothing I have done in 2 years of IPPE could be called "hands-on". More like "keep the 'interns' occupied". Everyone's experience with IPPE is different, of course. Mine has been consistently terrible. I am sure I will not be comparing my APPE experiences with my IPPE's. At least I hope not!

Yeah, IPPE is different at every school. I had a 5 week community IPPE and a 5 week hospital IPPE during the first quarter of P2 year.

You've probably told me before, but how are yours structured? Are they at the COP or at various practice sites?

 

[owlegrad]

Yeah, IPPE is different at every school. I had a 5 week community IPPE and a 5 week hospital IPPE during the first quarter of P2 year.

You've probably told me before, but how are yours structured? Are they at the COP or at various practice sites?

1st year - IPPE is a multi-faceted affair that involves community service, pharmacy volunteer hours, Interdisciplinary Family Health/Keeping Families Healthy, Integrated Case Studies (ICS - which is itself further broken down into parts such as presentations, soap notes, and other stuff that I will not get into here), and a BOP meeting. Probably some stuff I am forgetting right now. All for 1 credit.

2nd year - Still have the ICS, Community Service, and BOP meeting. But all the other stuff is changed into "working" 2 hours per week every at a site and presenting a poster at the end of each semester. Still one credit.


There is talk of shifting IPPE into the first two weeks of the semester of the fall and last 2 of spring, making our school year 4 weeks longer than it currently is. Hasn't happened yet, and I am skeptical that it ever will.

 

[pharm B]

B, don't you do IPPE?

Our IPPE is kind of a time-waster. There are literally days where I feel like we're just running down the clock. Don't get me wrong, we got immunization certified in the Fall, which was bad ass, but that was the end of the bad ass-ness.

Instead of learning about stuff we can use, our program for whatever reason had us spends hours preparing power points on OTC tests (ketone, pregnancy, etc). Instead of discussing the meat of the presentation, we actually had a prof say things like "I like the contrasting colors. And orange. Orange is good. It's almost Thanksgiving," etc.

But in the Fall we start our "real" IPPE, where we go out to a site every Friday. One semester is community, the other is hospital. Kind of excited about that.

 

[rxlea]

Weeeeird... Well, B, do you guys do evaluations? We get to evaluate IPPE experience, and it goes beyond a bubble sheet. We have these 2 page questionnaires where we say what we like/didnt like and what they could improve, etc. Maybe you could suggest something like that so the IPPE can be improved? Is your school pretty receptive to the students?

Our IPPE first year is at the LTC facility and we meet with patients every week and do different activities with them. It culminates in a patient education session where we tell them about their meds/conditions. We also make recommendations to the physicians if we find an area where therapy can be optimized. It's pretty cool. The second IPPE varies by site but I have heard some good things about rotations at the community clinics, ambulatory settings, and hospitals. Not many people like the chains. People LOVE our independents and compounding pharmacy sites. My only gripe is all the frickin papers we have to write. I really like our weekly small group discussions with a faculty member though.

 

[Sparda29]

Ours are all through first year, second year is elective ippes. Rotations are half third year and fourth year. I like it this way. 🙂

Sparda, you are lucky you even can go to a formal. Our P3 s are pretty much excluded from everything once they go on rotations - it's almost like they don't even exist.

We are pretty much excluded from everything in that nothing is convenient for us, but it is convenient for the P2s and P1s because they try to make sure there aren't any exams or whatnot coming up. Everything with the P2s and P1s seems to be centered on having to ace the exam. "Nah, we can't come to the APhA annual meeting, we don't want to have to reschedule exams"... jesus christ." For example, for some reason they planned the APhA monthly meeting for this Monday at 12PM...seriously, couldn't it have been like at 7PM or something?

The only time we are on campus is usually to take care of bursar/registrar issues and grand rounds.

 

[mustang sally]

Most of my rotations are in the same town as my school, so I might try to go to some school events. I just plan to do rotations for the most part, though.

I know I'm going to miss school, but I'm sort of ready to start regaining a grown up person's life again.

 

[crazybob]

So when I'm on rotations, I won't be able to go to club meetings or any social events hosted by the clubs at school?

I rarely see P4s at the club meetings and almost never see them at social events.

I guess that means they just keep you that busy on your rotations? Does it usually depend on the preceptor or are all of those APPEs supposed to give you stuff to do everyday after you go home?

 

[Sparda29]

So when I'm on rotations, I won't be able to go to club meetings or any social events hosted by the clubs at school?

I rarely see P4s at the club meetings and almost never see them at social events.

I guess that means they just keep you that busy on your rotations? Does it usually depend on the preceptor or are all of those APPEs supposed to give you stuff to do everyday after you go home?

They are probably just tired as hell after APPEs and don't want to do anything else.

 

[UES Girl]

They are probably just tired as hell after APPEs and don't want to do anything else.

Why would you even want to go to those meetings ? Jesus christ man, you are so involved and caring ! I am physically dying right now because after not drinking for months, I finally had like 3 drinks yesterday and now in two hours guess where I mandatorily have to go ? Which reminds me I have to now write. Rerpot.

 

[rxlea]

Rerpot.

 

[UES Girl]

Major hangover fail. I can barely stay awake, letalone present things and attend meetings, I haven't partied this much in years. I am too old for this.

 

[crazybob]

Why would you even want to go to those meetings ? Jesus christ man, you are so involved and caring !

😕

When did being involved and caring become a bad thing?

 

[rxlea]

😕

When did being involved and caring become a bad thing?

sarcasm fail?

 

[UES Girl]

😕

When did being involved and caring become a bad thing?

My sarcasm was onbivously lost on you, bob.


I am just fascinated he wants to go to those meetings - that is admirable because I am so used P3s being out of it, I've never seen P3 even make an effort to come to one of those meetings because they are so busy on rotations.

 

[crazybob]

My sarcasm was onbivously lost on you, bob.

I guess I should work on that.

 

[owlegrad]

sarcasm fail?

I can relate.

 

[crazybob]

I can relate.

So can I say "I'm glad I'm not the only one"? or is this another sarcasm post?

 

[owlegrad]

So can I say "I'm glad I'm not the only one"? or is this another sarcasm post?

I don't understand how that statement could be sarcastic. I can relate to sarcasm fail, happens to me all the time. Some people have no ability to detect sarcasm.

 

[Sparda29]

My sarcasm was onbivously lost on you, bob.


I am just fascinated he wants to go to those meetings - that is admirable because I am so used P3s being out of it, I've never seen P3 even make an effort to come to one of those meetings because they are so busy on rotations.

Our chapter just started this year, and I have do something to pad the CV and make up for the sucky GPA.