Spelling/Grammatical Errors on Essays

[koercive]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I just noticed I made a slight grammatical error in the essay I submitted... Will this have a huge negative effect on my app? (I should have proof read when I was fully awake rather than when I was about to fall asleep)

 

[terse]

I made a small spelling error on my PS and another pretty obvious one on my supps. I don't think it mattered too much as I've gotten interviews already. Good luck.

 

[terse]

*double post*

 

[Rumplestiltazepam]

Depends on the adcom, I have had bosses who throw an application away if there are spelling and grammatical errors that are obvious. All of them figure that if the person did not take the time to have it proofread by others than they were not that serious about the job/admission. Other adcoms might let it go if the rest of the application is impressive, but if your application is average or a little weak to begin with, I would say making grammatical errors could hurt.

 

[RNtoPharmD]

I am in the same boat. I made spacing and captalization errors too. We will see.. humm .. OCT pcat is pending.. no interview invitation yet. I don't think it is fair at all if adcom throw out application for minor gram mistake. I think the content and convention of language are more important.

 

[Pharmpills]

I am in the same boat. I made spacing and captalization errors too. We will see.. humm .. OCT pcat is pending.. no interview invitation yet. I don't think it is fair at all if adcom throw out application for minor gram mistake. I think the content and convention of language are more important.

yeah thats incredibly stupid if they just threw out an application bc of grammatical mistake. i mean what if ur software didnt pick it up. Mistake is a part of life, hell if everything was perfect we all would need to get 100% pcat and a 4.0 flat. i did hear a pre-professional committee member keep stressing that keep essays error free over n over. ughhhh

 

[fenixtnlfan]

yeah thats incredibly stupid if they just threw out an application bc of grammatical mistake. i mean what if ur software didnt pick it up. Mistake is a part of life, hell if everything was perfect we all would need to get 100% pcat and a 4.0 flat. i did hear a pre-professional committee member keep stressing that keep essays error free over n over. ughhhh

😱I sincerely hope you are joking! Relying on software to pick up a mistake is just plain lazy and not understanding what the program actually does. If computers were that smart we wouldn't need pharmacists!

 

[Pharmpills]

😱I sincerely hope you are joking! Relying on software to pick up a mistake is just plain lazy and not understanding what the program actually does. If computers were that smart we wouldn't need pharmacists!

ooppss i used computers 🙁 crap

 

[PharmDstudent]

I don't think it is fair at all if adcom throw out application for minor gram mistake. I think the content and convention of language are more important.

So what happens when you're a pharmacist, and you give out the right medication, the right frequency, but the wrong dose? [Hint: When it comes to pharmacy, an error is an error no matter how insignificant it may seem.]

It may seem like the "content and convention" of the medication is more important than the exact dose, but there are several medications that have a very small therapeutic window. Therefore, the details are just as important as the concepts.

Just think about the difference between mcg and mg. If the physician forgets to put the "c" between the "m" and the "g", the patient will get a dose that is 1,000 times stronger since 1 mg equals 1,000 mcg.

 

[PharmDstudent]

I read this article while I was waiting around at my early practice experience rotation. This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Sep 3, 2007By:Michael BarbellaDrug Topics

Corrective actions following drug error
It was a simple miscalculation. Yet the error slipped through the hands of three pharmacists and several nurses at a Las Vegas hospital last fall, leading to the death of a premature baby girl. "This is a tragic case," said Kasey Thompson, Pharm.D., director of patient safety at ASHP. "The primary outcome from this event must be that the same error never happens again to another patient at any organization. This case should serve as a wake-up call to every hospital to immediately look at their processes to determine whether a similar error could happen in their organization."

The error leading to the death of three-week-old Alyssa Shinn on Nov. 9 certainly served as a wake-up call to Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, the facility where the mistake occurred. Changes there began the day after the infant's death, starting with a staff meeting and an internal investigation, according to testimony before the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy. That investigation prompted the hospital to hire a pediatric pharmacist and make changes to its policy on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) orders.
Said Allen Vaida, executive VP, Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., "TPNs are on our list of high-alert drugs. With high-alert drugs, you have to ask yourself what extra precautions you can take to prevent errors. For instance, do you have preprinted order forms? Are there double-check systems in place? Are you making sure people are well trained? And you have to make sure you have up-to-date equipment. From reading about the case, it looks like there was a breakdown in all of that."
The breakdown that resulted in Alyssa Shinn's death began with the mishandling of the infant's prescription by hospital pharmacist Pamela Goff. In her testimony to the pharmacy board, Goff tearfully admitted she selected the wrong unit of zinc for the infant's TPN IV bag, choosing 330 mg rather than 330 mcg—a dose 1,000 times larger than Shinn's neonatologist had ordered. However, Goff told board members, the TPN orders—particularly those from the neonatal intensive care unit—were written in quantity per volume of the IV bag's contents rather than quantity based on the patient's weight. Richard Harris, a Las Vegas attorney representing Shinn's divorced parents Kathleen and Richard in settlement discussions with Summerlin, criticized the hospital for failing to require all TPN prescriptions to be written the same way.

Hospital officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Goff and the two pharmacists who failed to catch her mistake were each fined $2,500 by the board and ordered to undergo additional training. The hospital itself was fined $10,000—the maximum the board can levy—and the pharmacy was required to undergo an evaluation to determine ways it can improve operations.
One improvement Kathleen Shinn would like to see has more to do with compassion than with hospital procedure. "After Alyssa died, we were offered no condolences, no grief counseling or spiritual counseling. They didn't offer to pay for her funeral," she said after the hearing. "We just left that night and never heard from them again. We would like to see not only improved safety, but compassion and caring. Let us be there. Let us hold her. If you know she's going to die, let us be there with her."
​

http://www.drugtopics.com/drugtopic...cle/detail/452448?searchString=baby girl died

 

[RNtoPharmD]

PharmDstudent. what about the nurses? .. this is the first time I don't see they blame on the nurse..

But it is tragic though.

 

[Pharmpills]

we r talking about essays not mistakes from rx's. its totally different and u cant in ur right mind compare it. why u say? bc again certain mistakes r a part of life bc we all cant make 99% pcat and 4.0 GPA nor do the same in pharmacy school. does that mean we r incompetent? no of course not. Mistakes in the pharmacy itself is due to several mistakes that could be the doctor's fault or the pharmacist making the best visual "guess" to what a rx says. Essays and personal statement should be strived to be perfect but students should not be severelt punished if its not.

 

[PharmDstudent]

we r talking about essays not mistakes from rx's. its totally different and u cant in ur right mind compare it. why u say? bc again certain mistakes r a part of life bc we all cant make 99% pcat and 4.0 GPA nor do the same in pharmacy school. does that mean we r incompetent? no of course not. Mistakes in the pharmacy itself is due to several mistakes that could be the doctor's fault or the pharmacist making the best visual "guess" to what a rx says. Essays and personal statement should be strived to be perfect but students should not be severelt punished if its not.

If your essay looked like your post, I'd throw it in the trash.
Do you have any pride in what you write?

 

[Pharmpills]

If your essay looked like your post, I'd throw it in the trash.
Do you have any pride in what you write?

yeah do u have any pride in urself or r u just ignorant 🙂😀

 

[eelo]

yeah do u have any pride in urself or r u just ignorant 🙂😀

You might have more confidence in your ability to write an essay if you would acually write, every chance you get. In other words, lose the junior-high text-speak.

Practice writing proper sentences, using correct grammar, syntax, and spelling. Then when you have to do it when it counts, you'll have had a lot of opportunities to practice doing it right.

 

[PharmDstudent]

yeah do u have any pride in urself or r u just ignorant 🙂😀

I only have one thing to say in response: you're still a pre-pharm .

 

[PharmDstudent]

You might have more confidence in your ability to write an essay if you would acually write, every chance you get. In other words, lose the junior-high text-speak.

Practice writing proper sentences, using correct grammar, syntax, and spelling. Then when you have to do it when it counts, you'll have had a lot of opportunities to practice doing it right.

I'm not sure if they'll ever learn. It's such a simple concept, you know, practice makes perfect.