What would you change about your pharmacy school?

Started by pharm B
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
pharm B

pharm B

HansomWare
Moderator Emeritus
Lifetime Donor
Verified Member
Navy
Pharmacist
Rocket Scientist
Verified Expert
15+ Year Member
Platinum Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I was discussing this with someone recently. No school is perfect, although many are probably close. If you could change one thing about how your school does business, what would it be?

Personally, I feel like we waste too much time on "soft" subjects like communications, etc. How many hours have you sat in lecture and thought "this could have been condensed into a 20 minute talk, instead of an hour-long power point?"
 
*Have the professors actually teach and not have to look up much of the information on our own
*Not have quizzes on lecture material 1-4 days before the lecture
*Not pay 1.3 year tuition during P4.
*Less hours to do IPPEs (though that's not up to the school)
*Focus less on diagnosis (aren't we in pharmacy school here)
 
gonna go ahead and agree with OP. we had an hour lecture on how to not stare at patients and say rude things to them.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I miss having professors actually "teach." We're sitting in a 2-hour long lecture right now, and the prof is literally just reading the slides verbatim. Hearing a monotone vocalization of a 110 slides isn't really any different than letting me sit in a comfy chair at home and read them.

And distance learning is awful! We normally lose like 10 minutes of lecture time to technical difficulties. We actually lost a whole lecture last week.
 
I wish that tuition was cheaper and that we had exams in the afternoon and evening instead of these 9AM shenanigans. It seems that all of the older students in my class prefer having morning exams because of kids and family issues and because of that the younger students who would rather sleep until 11AM have to pay for it.
 
pharm B said:
Personally, I feel like we waste too much time on "soft" subjects like communications, etc. How many hours have you sat in lecture and thought "this could have been condensed into a 20 minute talk, instead of an hour-long power point?"
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
I had a philosophy professor tell me once that law school is where smart people go to die. I sometimes feel that way about pharmacy school. Too much focus on communications type stuff and not enough science.
 
joetrisman said:
Totally agree.
I had a philosophy professor tell me once that law school is where smart people go to die. I sometimes feel that way about pharmacy school. Too much focus on communications type stuff and not enough science.
Click to expand...

As a P4, I've noticed one big glaring problem with my school.

I think that pharmacy schools should do evaluations at some point during the year. And not class evaluations. Evaluations that encompass the school as a whole, and also evaluations on administration performance. I think this is an area that is lacking and that we as students have the littlest input in.
 
bacillus1 said:
*Have the professors actually teach and not have to look up much of the information on our own
*Not have quizzes on lecture material 1-4 days before the lecture
*Not pay 1.3 year tuition during P4.
*Less hours to do IPPEs (though that's not up to the school)
*Focus less on diagnosis (aren't we in pharmacy school here)
Click to expand...

Don't forget "busy work" (reflection papers and all that silliness.)
 
So far, I am very, very happy with my program. Things I would change:

-take out the "pharmacy practice" class and just incorporate that material into our IPPE lecture/discussion class.
-less focus on minutia in immunology and biochem and spend 2/3 (instead of a 1/3) on disease states and treatments
-have more interproffesional classes instead of just one event and elective classes.

Other than that, my program is awesome. Great profs, curriculum, opportunities, EC's, etc.
 
rxlea said:
So far, I am very, very happy with my program. Things I would change:

-take out the "pharmacy practice" class and just incorporate that material into our IPPE lecture/discussion class.
-less focus on minutia in immunology and biochem and spend 2/3 (instead of a 1/3) on disease states and treatments
-have more interproffesional classes instead of just one event and elective classes.

Other than that, my program is awesome. Great profs, curriculum, opportunities, EC's, etc.
Click to expand...
I told ya how jealous I am of you. 🙁

So far, IPPE this year has involved "walking through receiving a telephone prescription."

I've worked in a pharmacy before, so of course I'm coming into this with my own pre-set ideas of how to do it, but his example isn't very realistic for people who don't have any experience whatsoever.

"Hello, thank you for calling School Pharmacy at 123 A Street, Big Town, State. My name is John Doe and I am the pharmacist, how can I help you?"

My answer: shorten that!
 
pharm B said:
I told ya how jealous I am of you. 🙁

So far, IPPE this year has involved "walking through receiving a telephone prescription."

I've worked in a pharmacy before, so of course I'm coming into this with my own pre-set ideas of how to do it, but his example isn't very realistic for people who don't have any experience whatsoever.

"Hello, thank you for calling School Pharmacy at 123 A Street, Big Town, State. My name is John Doe and I am the pharmacist, how can I help you?"

My answer: shorten that!
Click to expand...

What the hell? I've always answered the phone by just saying "Pharmacy".
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
pharm B said:
Not surprising. :meanie:

I think it's not bad to say "ABC Pharmacy, how can I help you" or something along those lines. He just drones on through this script like a robot.
Click to expand...

I have never understood why we even say pharmacy. Before you can ever get to me you had to navigate at least three menus where a robot has reminded you at every step that you are calling CVS pharmacy. And it doesn't matter how many times me/robot says CVS, I still got at least a few people every day who meant to call Walgreens and didn't realize there mistake until I finally realized what the problem is and come right out and ask them "did you mean to call Walgreens?". "This isn't Walgreens?!" <click> (Actually they usually want to argue with me for awhile about wether or not I really am CVS and not Walgreens before they hang up)

Pointless if you ask me, although like a good drone I always use the script. "Thank you for calling CVS pharmacy on the corner of X and Y, this is Owlegrad. How may I help you?"
"Oh you just want to read me a string of numbers, sure - please make it fun by not pausing in between different prescriptions or stopping to take a breath. Of course we can have this done in 15 minutes! Have you had your flu shot yet?"
 
Back on topic:

Eliminate weekly quizzes. Hate em.

Completely revamp first year to actually start learning about drugs. I would scrap almost the entire first year.

Not a fan of group work, wouldn't mind putting that to rest.

IPPE actually being worth something. Great idea on paper, worthless time sink in practise.

I had a lot more things last year, I don't know - I find myself happier overall this year. I mostly attribute that to actually learning about pharmacy.
 
pharm B said:
Not surprising. :meanie:

I think it's not bad to say "ABC Pharmacy, how can I help you" or something along those lines. He just drones on through this script like a robot.
Click to expand...

I would rather not let the person on the other side of the phone know my name. One time a tech at the pharmacy where I worked got written up because a customer complained to district management that the tech rushed her while she was talking to the tech on the phone.

Also, I can do without the 8-10 page papers that we have to write after our Advanced Public Health rotations.
 
Sparda29 said:
I would rather not let the person on the other side of the phone know my name. One time a tech at the pharmacy where I worked got written up because a customer complained to district management that the tech rushed her while she was talking to the tech on the phone.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know quite a few people who don't want to give out their names over the phone. I like people that I am talking with to know my name. I am not some nameless/faceless robot and I like being addressed by name. I also think it sets a pleasent "tone" for the conversation. Overall though it is a very minor thing. 9/10 people I am sure would not be able to say it back to me if I immediatly asked what I had just said my name was. :laugh:
 
I enjoyed my time at UNC.

My changes:

-Consolidate textbooks: we used only a fraction of the texts that were "mandatory" and most test Q's came from slides. My pharmaceutics book was the worst waste of money I've ever spent.

-Better coordinated housing for IPPE/APPE rotations. Such stress when I had to commute an hour to two of my sites in P4 year.

-Make Pharmacy Care Lab more pertinent. A lot of exercises were wastes of time.

-Mandatory rectal examinations for all students at regular intervals during the academic year. A vast number of my classmates seemed to have a stick up their butts. It also became apparent that the problem became contagious over the years.
 
thedrunkenpharm said:
I enjoyed my time at UNC.

My changes:

-Consolidate textbooks: we used only a fraction of the texts that were "mandatory" and most test Q's came from slides. My pharmaceutics book was the worst waste of money I've ever spent.

-Better coordinated housing for IPPE/APPE rotations. Such stress when I had to commute an hour to two of my sites in P4 year.

-Make Pharmacy Care Lab more pertinent. A lot of exercises were wastes of time.

-Mandatory rectal examinations for all students at regular intervals during the academic year. A vast number of my classmates seemed to have a stick up their butts. It also became apparent that the problem became contagious over the years.
Click to expand...

3HcCZ.gif
 
pharm B said:
So far, IPPE this year has involved "walking through receiving a telephone prescription."
Click to expand...

How are your IPPE's done? At both schools in my state students complete two 4 or 5 week rotations for IPPE. One in hospital pharmacy and one in community pharmacy. It's basically learning to do technician stuff but a good preceptor will make it more advanced for students who have prior experience.
 
Things I Don't Like

Group work - awful
Standardized patients - so cheesy and awkward and totally unlike interacting with real patients
Mandatory "professional dress" for class
Mandatory attendance
"Participation quizzes" that are just thinly disguised ways to take attendance
Physical assessment - if I wanted to touch stank feet and look into ears and listen for bowel sounds I'd have chosen a different career
 
All4MyDaughter said:
How are your IPPE's done? At both schools in my state students complete two 4 or 5 week rotations for IPPE. One in hospital pharmacy and one in community pharmacy. It's basically learning to do technician stuff but a good preceptor will make it more advanced for students who have prior experience.
Click to expand...
We have two 4 hour sessions each week (though about a third of these are "off" so we can complete service learning hours).

Last semester, we spent a month of these sessions watching power points that groups put together on OTC tests. We're taking Self Care this semester, so that would be the course where I would cover this material. BUT our guy then proceeded to critique our power points, which made it feel more like a communications course.

Not very IPPE-ey to me.

I am looking forward to next semester, though. We get to go rotation sites one day a week. One semester is an institution and the other is community.
 
Convert the 0-6 program into a 2+4. Target class sizes closer to 200, not 300. "Weed" more effectively and earlier in the curriculum (see 2+4) to minimize the number of incompetent students and/or people in a given class and to stop stringing people along who just can't handle the quantity of what is basically undergraduate-level work.

What I would change, not what will ever happen ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$).
 
Get rid of mandatory quizzes , this is grad school not high school.

Cut attendance requirements. Having to go to school one day a week is one day too many.
 
cycloketocaine said:
As a P4, I've noticed one big glaring problem with my school.

I think that pharmacy schools should do evaluations at some point during the year. And not class evaluations. Evaluations that encompass the school as a whole, and also evaluations on administration performance. I think this is an area that is lacking and that we as students have the littlest input in.
Click to expand...

We had something like that. Each spring we had the student-faculty forum. Students and faculty submitted (professionally-written) complaints and positive things. Faculty would often be mentioned for effective teaching methods or working with students to handle issues. Both sides got to explain themselves and try to come to a conclusion. I think it helped somewhat, at least with students and faculty who attended.
 
All4MyDaughter said:
How are your IPPE's done? At both schools in my state students complete two 4 or 5 week rotations for IPPE. One in hospital pharmacy and one in community pharmacy. It's basically learning to do technician stuff but a good preceptor will make it more advanced for students who have prior experience.
Click to expand...

We have 4 IPPE rotations that we gotta do.

P1 Year - Community Pharmacy and Public Health (senator's office, advocacy groups, environmental groups, etc)

P2 Year - Hospital Pharmacy and Specialty Pharmacy (LTC, Compounding, HIV clinics)
 
The only thing I would change is make more pharmacy electives available, but then I was unlucky enough to be there during two years of restructuring when a lot of faculty changed so curriculum was down to bare bones. But otherwise I think my school was pretty much prefect. Which is why this alumna is happy to give back in both time and money as circumstances permit. 😍

There probably have been things I were unhappy with at the time, but I definitely can't remember them now, so it's the same as if they never happened. 🙂
 
It's very important for everyone to consider that once you become a registered pharmacist, the real learning and education begin as a pharmacist. It's not one and done in 4 years of pharmacy school when entire education takes place.

I understand the anxiety most of you guys are going through with the future job placement. I understand it because there were no jobs when I graduated, before the retail boom. But don't forget that your career is going to span 30 to 40 years and your work environment will dictate what you will learn and how your personal growth will shape as a professional.

Highest performing athletes compete against the best and they become better by doing so. I've heard complaints from professional basketball players in the minor leagues (European League) that if they were given the opportunity to compete against the best in the NBA, they too would have elevated their game... well there's some truth in that. They would have elavated their game...then again I'm not sure they could have competed at the level.

Same applies in the pharmacy. The type of pharmacy career you choose will have a major impact on your growth as a healthcare professional. What you do, who you work with and who you deal with will ultimately limit or expand your continuing education, experience, and knowledge.

My career path wasn't shaped or planned. I ended up where I am constantly trying to take on more responsibilities. As I reflect on my 20 year pharmacy career, I feel extremely fortunate that I have learned what I know by having worked with diverse group of healtcare practitioners to administrators in all walks for healthcare. This exposure and experience have broadened my knowledge base and a quest for more learning.

Education never stops and I believe that the day you stop learning is the day your brain starts to atrophy. So, when deciding on a career path in pharmacy, I hope you guys will also consider your personal growth and continuing education as a healthcare professional depends on the type of work you choose to pursue.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Its Z said:
It's very important for everyone to consider that once you become a registered pharmacist, the real learning and education begin as a pharmacist. It's not one and done in 4 years of pharmacy school when entire education takes place.

I understand the anxiety most of you guys are going through with the future job placement. I understand it because there were no jobs when I graduated, before the retail boom. But don't forget that your career is going to span 30 to 40 years and your work environment will dictate what you will learn and how your personal growth will shape as a professional.

Highest performing athletes compete against the best and they become better by doing so. I've heard complaints from professional basketball players in the minor leagues (European League) that if they were given the opportunity to compete against the best in the NBA, they too would have elevated their game... well there's some truth in that. They would have elavated their game...then again I'm not sure they could have competed at the level.

Same applies in the pharmacy. The type of pharmacy career you choose will have a major impact on your growth as a healthcare professional. What you do, who you work with and who you deal with will ultimately limit or expand your continuing education, experience, and knowledge.

My career path wasn't shaped or planned. I ended up where I am constantly trying to take on more responsibilities. As I reflect on my 20 year pharmacy career, I feel extremely fortunate that I have learned what I know by having worked with diverse group of healtcare practitioners to administrators in all walks for healthcare. This exposure and experience have broadened my knowledge base and a quest for more learning.

Education never stops and I believe that the day you stop learning is the day your brain starts to atrophy. So, when deciding on a career path in pharmacy, I hope you guys will also consider your personal growth and continuing education as a healthcare professional depends on the type of work you choose to pursue.
Click to expand...

Z, can we do a mind meld so I can keep some of your awesomeness? Such a very inspiring post. I think I will put this one in my favorites 😀
 
Its Z said:
I've been out of Texas past 2 days.
Click to expand...

I knew it was something in the water out there, but I had no idea the effects are transient and go away when person is removed from that environment. :laugh:

There are reasons I have never set my foot on Texan soil other than inside the Houston and Dallas airports. 🙂 I will eat steaks originating in Texas, though. 👍
 
Its Z said:
Education never stops and I believe that the day you stop learning is the day your brain starts to atrophy. So, when deciding on a career path in pharmacy, I hope you guys will also consider your personal growth and continuing education as a healthcare professional depends on the type of work you choose to pursue.
Click to expand...

Nice change of pace from the typical doom and gloom around here. 👍
 
pharm B said:
I was discussing this with someone recently. No school is perfect, although many are probably close. If you could change one thing about how your school does business, what would it be?

Personally, I feel like we waste too much time on "soft" subjects like communications, etc. How many hours have you sat in lecture and thought "this could have been condensed into a 20 minute talk, instead of an hour-long power point?"
Click to expand...

Communications is the one class that is a MUST for pharmacy schools, it just needs to be refined into a more pt based class. The more experience you gain in talking to patients, the better pharmacist you will be.

- The Highlander @ Apothecarytales.com
 
I would have a policy that professors cannot deny people from taking quizzes or exams if they are a little late.

Seriously, we had a quiz today at 1PM, we have 15 minutes to complete the quiz. I wasn't able to find parking close to the school because there is snow covering so many of the parking spots, thus my walk was longer (can't run because I'm 8 weeks post op ACL reconstruction). I arrive at 1:09PM, and I know I can finish the quiz in 6 minutes, but my professor doesn't let me take it. And then she says before class ends that, if you're more than 15 minutes late for the final, you cannot take it. WTF?

I'm usually 20-30 minutes late when I have a morning exam, other professors do not deny me entry, and yet I'm one of the first people done with the exam so it's not like I have extra time to complete the exam.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
All4MyDaughter said:
I agree. A policy that protects and rewards chronic tardiness would be great. It's not like punctuality is important in real life anyway, so schools should just relax.
Click to expand...


And that, is the exact reason why I would take student input of how pharmacy education should be structured with a grain of salt.
 
Its Z said:
...It's very important for everyone to consider that once you become a registered pharmacist, the real learning and education begin as a pharmacist...
Click to expand...

Its Z said:
And that, is the exact reason why I would take student input of how pharmacy education should be structured with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

But Z, our real learning doesn't start until after we become pharmacists 😛
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Hi, what are my chances of getting into pharmacy school? :)
Replies
8
Views
4K
lord999
lord999
I
Career Change to Pharmacy
Replies
9
Views
4K
lord999
lord999
R
Thinking of leaving pharmacy school
Replies
7
Views
5K
gracefuldoc
G
SavedByGrace 116
Project 2025, Will the board of pharmacy change the pharmacy graduate intern position to full-time?
Replies
4
Views
3K
lord999
lord999
E
The Big Question: Pharmacy School or Career?
Replies
3
Views
3K
steveysmith54
S