Pharmacist on the go

Belle || Study tips || BS Pharmacy Graduate || Licensed Pharmacist from the Philippines || Currently taking up Doctor of Pharmacy  || Feel free to ask me questions

[notebookist]

i'm sick of feeling uncertain about a project i want to do in my lab this upcoming year, so i decided to stop worrying about it and just start working on it. which means reading lots of papers and taking lots of notes. better late than never, right?

ft. a cute local coffee shop & an iced chai-spiced cider!

[coffeeandpies-deactivated202012]

160719 // day 1 of 15 days of doing sht stuff

Just got back from a beach trip this morning and I jumped right back into learning because I’m a Certified Nerd™.

This is kinda a 100dop but only 15 days because I tried 100dop last year and was STRESSED OUT. My main focuses are learning languages (Korean and Spanish, maybe review some English for the upcoming semester) but I’m going to keep up with my leisure reading, too. I’ve read 46 outta 50 books for Goodreads challenge so far and I’ll try to finish the remaining in these 15 days.

Other than academia, I’ll be trying to improve my mental and physical health as well. So I’ll meditate and workout daily (or at least try to).

Wish me luck (although it’s quite a small goals, I mean, 15 days lol)

My tag for it is #15dods in case you wanna blacklist, or join, or tag/mention me about it, w/e guys.

[paper-chase]

it’s been a while 🌿✨as you can tell from the state of my desk, I’m working on my spreads for my trip to Europe ✌🏼

[dalub-asal]

45/100 days of productivity - september 11, 2018

[freckledstudy]

27 Sept ‘18 // Working in my college library this morn on some reading for my thesis. Cambridge is still yawning from the summer, weirdly quiet and gradually shading into myriad oranges. Michaelmas term officially resumes in a week, and the undergraduates start arriving in full force this weekend.

[academc]

AUG 22 2018 [TUES] — i finally started university and here’s me taking notes for my first set of college readings !!

[dalub-asal]

32/100 days of productivity - august 11, 2018

[leannstudies]

back to school essentials.

other than regular stationery, here are some things that i think everybody should keep with them at school

earbuds. i ALWAYS have my earbuds in. so much so that my friends, teammates, and classmates mention it nonstop. whether it’s enjoying music or trying to block out chatter, earbuds are a necessity.

chargers and power banks. if you bring a laptop or phone to school, make sure to bring the charging cord and a power bank in case you can’t find an outlet at school.

toiletries. lip balm, sunscreen, lotion, hand sanitizer and all that jazz. protect yourself from uv rays and germs !

water. everyone knows you should be drinking tons of water by now so just stay hydrated, my friends.

snacks. if you ever feel the need to recharge or just get hungry, you’ll always have some food on hand.

gum/mints. do i really need to explain ? it’s a staple.

a spare book. my school has a specific time for reading at the beginning of third period so i *try* to read it in my spare time. if you don’t want to be on your phone when you have free time, keep one in your backpack or locker.

there are tons of things i’m forgetting at the moment so feel free to add any of your essentials in the notes ~

[ellelearns]

Studying in groups can be great. They’re fun and allow you to get information on a topic you don’t grasp just yet. However, they can be ineffective if they’re not approached correctly. So I’ve compiled a list of things to do and not to do when you join a study group.

DO: Pick the right people.

You want to make sure that the people in your study group are from a common class, serious about studying and reliable. Don’t pick people with awful work ethic just because they’re your friends. You’ll end up not getting any work done.

DON’T: Make your study group too large.

Honestly, three to six members (including you) is enough. More members mean having more ideas and perspectives, but a group too large will be overwhelming and more likely to cause distractions.

DO: Set up a schedule.

In order to stay organized, create a set schedule for your group meetings. There’s nothing worse than having meetings all over the place or someone not being able to make it because you guys didn’t plan accordingly.

DON’T: Diverge from study topics.

Your study group is for studying, nothing else. Sure, you could maybe an off-topic conversation or two, but try not to do it too often. Everyone’s time is super valuable so make sure that you use it effectively to accomplish things.

DO: Make a plan

It’s hard to get a session going if you or the members don’t know exactly what you’re going to do. So talk amongst each other beforehand to agree on what needs to be covered so you know what you’re going to do.

DON’T: Rely on your study group

Study groups are fun and all, but you also need to study individually. Some topics require your complete undivided attention, so it’d be better for you to do it alone. Also, some sessions might get canceled so if your group is the only way you study, you might not get any work done. You’re also not going to be any help to your group if you don’t do readings and work o your own.

DO: Know each other personal strengths and weaknesses.

Find out what skills and abilities you are your members can offer to each other. Is someone super good at editing essays? Does someone else take amazing notes? Or maybe someone grasps a topic super well and can teach it to others? Figure out all this stuff to help each other reach your goals.

DON’T: Come in unprepared

Everyone in the group should arrive with three goals they want to accomplish as well as a list of things they understand and areas of confusion. You’ll be more productive this way.

DO: Teach others material you understand.

When you teach someone else material and they get it, you’re solidifying your understanding of a topic.

DON’T: Pick poor locations.

The location should be convenient for everyone (not difficult to commute), comfortable and have all the amenities you may need (wifi, printer, computers, whiteboards)

[pharmdup]

What it feels like to verify providers’ orders: hospital pharmacist edition

Pharmacists feel like we get to know providers through their orders. For every order where we have a question, you’ve probably put through 50 orders that we completely agreed with.  As a result, most pharmacists regard their providers with more of a colleague/friendly acquaintance air than providers feel toward the individual pharmacist.

To a pharmacist, verifying orders can feel a lot like proof-reading your buddy’s letter of intent to a new employer. You know your buddy.  You want to tell them when they have a typo in such an important letter.  We know that you’d be horrified by writing an error that leads to patient harm and we want to be on your side in preventing that– both for the patient’s sake and to spare you the pain that you’d feel to have caused an error.

Still, I’d say that less than half of the time when I’m calling a provider it’s to inform them about an obvious error.  The rest of the time it’s about an order that looks plausible, but I don’t understand what’s going on, and it could possibly be bad.  Most pharmacists in distribution roles are operating on less information than providers have.  Even if we have access to the full chart (which is less common than you’d believe), we may be responsible for over a hundred patients.  When overnight, it may be hundreds of patients in multiple hospitals.  We know that we may have missed something in our chart review.  We know that the providers are smart and the order may completely fit the circumstances, but we couldn’t figure out why it looked odd in between checking all of the operating room orders and taking phone calls from all over the hospital.  We don’t know the individual patient as well as you do, and we are aware that it makes us look like dumbasses when we call.  

I had one experienced hospitalist who got it.  She would say, “I know that you have a lot more patients than I do, so let me introduce this one to you.”  She would give a very brief case presentation to me along with her reasoning for the order in question, and by the time she was done, I felt very well equipped to make my assessment.  I am sure that her patients were much safer due to this approach.  I’ve had other providers who have said, “Yes, that drug and dose are exactly how I meant it,” which provides me zero context to help me assess whether or not I agree with the drug and dose.

I’ve tried to explain to providers before how I’m not calling to correct them– I just want to understand what’s going on with the patient– but I’m pretty sure that the providers didn’t believe me.  Because you don’t know us as well as we feel like we know you, it feels like we’re the ones handing out grades after you’re done with school.  But since we spend all of the day elbows-deep in all of your orders, the vast majority of which are totally correct, we tend to feel like we’re on your team much more.  And by elbows-deep, I mean it.  We are surrounded by the physical evidence of your correctness.  Every time that scheduled medication goes to the floor, the label has the initial of a pharmacist who handled that drug.

If you ever have time (I know, I know), you might want to consider visiting a main pharmacy once (though I’d call ahead in case they’re in the middle of a crisis).  Most providers in large hospitals may have never seen the inside of a main hospital pharmacy.  You might know your clinical pharmacist, but you may never have met your operational pharmacist face to face– even though I guarantee both pharmacists are familiar with you!  Your pharmacists would love that you checked the pharmacy out.  The whole department would be Team You until the end of time.

tl;dr: we’re really just trying to look out for you, guys, because we’re creepily always watching whether we call you or not

[sophrosyne-812]

10.20.17 // endless piles of anatomy to learn. 😫

{insta & snapchat: @lucynicoled}

[onioncakes]

✨ space themed july spread  

instagram

[juliennestudies]

{aug 15, 2018}

today was the first day of school. and the senior high department has 700 students 😱 now, i feel so keen on doing my best and working really hard this school year. The amount of people in class (we’re 50 students in one classroom) seems so daunting, & i barely know anyone.

i tried talking to some old friends from my old school but why did it seem so awkward? ugh.

somehow, this motivates me.

ig: solennestudies

[aeaweyah-deactivated20220903]

Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Baguio City, Philippines.

[zoyla]

Winter break mcat studying

[soontobedvm]

Basic Drug Calculations: How to Survive Clinical Rotations #4

When I matriculated into clinical rotations, the thing that I probably was most terrified of was messing up a drug dosage or calculation. So much math, and when you are stressed? It can be easy to mess up! So let’s go through a basic drug calculation together! 

-First things first: Unless it’s a very specific drug that states otherwise, in general, ALL OF YOUR WEIGHTS WILL NEED TO BE IN KGS (kilograms), NOT POUNDS!!!!!  How do you do this? Take your weight in pounds and divide by 2.2!! So a 14 pound dog is 6.36kgs!!!!

Okay, so you have a 14 pound dog (6.36 kg) named PooPoo that you want to give Miraclemycin to that is in a bottle. It states in your pharmacy book (Drugs R Us) that you should give 3.0 mg/kg of MIraclemycin. That means you need 3.0 mg (MILLIGRAMS) PER KILOGRAM of body weight. We just that PooPoo is 6.36 kgs, so simply multiply THE WEIGHT (IN KGS) BY THE MGS PER KILOGRAM. That is 3.0 mg/kg X 6.36 kg to get 19.08 mgs!  Whoohoo, we know how much to give!!! 

…But it’s in a bottle that is liquid and it says that the bottle has 15 mg/ml… Never fear! This means there is 15 MG (milligrams) of medication per 1 ML (Milliliter) of liquid. So if we want 19.08 milligrams, we take the amount of milligrams we want divided by how many MG/ML. So 19.08 mg divided 15 mg/ml= 1.2 mls! That means we would draw up 1.2 mls in our syringe! 

(Below is the calculation again in a little more streamlined fashion):

14 pounds / 2.2 = 6.36 kgs

6.36 kgs X 3.0 mg/kg = 19.08 mgs

19.08 mgs/ 15 mg/ml = 1.2 mls of Miraclemycin!  

_______________________________________________________________

Other useful links: Surviving clinical rotations #1 (how to be prepared for clinical rotations), #2 (Presenting a case: Signalment), #3 (How to take a history), what is a clinical rotation

[zeejournals]

Instagram: @ muslamicstudy