Expectations for P3 Year

8/17/2020

Today is the first day of my P3 year, or final year of didactic curriculum! It feels very odd to be on the other side of halfway through pharmacy school, and I am excited to finish out my time in the classroom strong! So without further adieu, here are some of my expectations for my P3 year:

1. Finish out the disease state modules. In the Fall semester, we are going to be taking Musculoskeletal for the first half, and GI and Endocrine for the second half. We will also be in Practice of Pharmacy & I am taking the research elective with Dr. Hamrick. The disease state modules are really important to practice, and I am looking forward to covering some of the drug classes that we dispense very commonly in the community setting!
2. P3 year at Mercer is the time for a lot of certifications! We are going to be MTM certified in September, which is great because that has been a big part of my Summer internship with Walgreens. We will also get re-certified in BLS (CPR certification) & our glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, & immunization skills. This is especially important this year as we are expecting one of the busiest flu seasons ever!
3. Adjusting to all the new COVID-19 regulations. Right now, Mercer has a plan in place that includes a lot of in person classes. We will be wearing masks & spaced out in classrooms. Some of our class will be assigned to a remote classroom with a live stream of the lecture. As of this writing, I don’t yet know how this will look as the semester continues, and am doing my best to be flexible and prepare for whatever the pandemic may throw at us!
4. Ranking & preparing for APPE rotations! Our fourth year rotations start in May, less than a year away! We will have a lot of meetings preparing us to rank our preferences for these experiences this semester. Ranking typically happens in November, but I have already been working on arranging some elective rotations that I will be completing in Tennessee.
5. Serve as a leader in professional organizations. This year I am the President of the Mercer APhA-ASP chapter, a member of the APhA-ASP National Standing Committee on Communications, the Executive Director of the GPhA Student Leadership Board, the secretary for the Mercer NCPA chapter, the Interfraternity Council representative for Kappa Epsilon, and a member of the Mercer pharmacy ambassador leadership team. I have been working on preparing for these roles all Summer, and even though I’m very disappointed in the fact that a lot of things will be cancelled or held virtually, I hope that I will still be able to add value to students participating in all these organizations.
6. Working! I have a lot of internships currently, and am looking forward to them all for different reasons! I will continue working at Walgreens at my regular retail store, a specialty store, & completing MTMs. I will also continue working at Innovation Compounding, an independent pharmacy. I am an intern for NASPA, which is a remote position that I am continuing from the Summer, and an intern for Banner Medical, which is a medical writing company owned by a pharmacist, which is a new position for me. It is my hope that all these positions prepare me for many opportunities in my future as a pharmacist!
7. Back to morning schedule. During P2 year, our schedule at Mercer was largely composed of classes in the afternoons, PLUS labs in the mornings. Luckily, this year our schedule is back to morning classes & doesn’t include labs! I am thrilled as a morning person, and anticipate this will give me a lot more time to devote to work, studying, and maybe even some free time!
8. Finish strong! I have held onto my 4.0 GPA over the past 2 years of pharmacy school, and would love to continue that trend. While I am aware that I have a lot of other responsibilities this year and classes will be challenging, I hope that my academic performance will continue to be excellent. At the end of the year, we will participate in pinning ceremony which signifies the end of didactic and the start of rotations, and I can’t wait for that milestone.