The first week has not been bad at all. We have some memorization of electrolyte levels, hematocrits & other stuff that I already had in anatomy. This class lasts 5 semesters and deals with disease states by organ systems. It also has biochem mixed in with it. The 2nd years have told me that there will be tons of memorization.
My clinical biochem class is easy so far. We're just calculating pK values and just starting on amino acids. But, some people in my class did not take biochem before and they are struggling a bit. I'm kind of pissed that they wouldn't let me test out of the class.
Med chem is the first of several med chem courses. This one is just introductory, so it's not bad. It's mainly some organic mixed with some biochem for studying how you add different functional groups when designing a drug to reach a specific target cell. We'll cover basic drug metabolism next week.
One of my classes is the "art of pharmacy", which is mainly sociology but also learning the top 200 drugs. (That hasn't been assigned to us yet). This is our non-science class so we can take a break. We have some Pub Med research due next week.
I'll be assigned a family next week for "keeping families healthy", which I will advise them about their medication over the next 2 semesters. I also need to set up community osteoporosis screenings, etc. I'll also be assigned an integrated case study project and have to shadow a 4th year.
I'm sure it's going to get a lot harder, but I'm really happy with the first week. Other than the fact that I don't have any free time. My commute to school is a 3 hour round trip.
