Pharmacy School So Far

I cannot believe how the time has flown, and now our class is already 1/2 of the way through the didactic portion of the pharmacy program at Creighton University.  The final (4th) year consists of 8 rotations, 5 weeks each, so we have just 1 1/2 years, 3 semesters, left of classes.

I have been asked if I am enjoying the program, and I always have to stop and think.  It usually keeps me at full speed ahead and there's no time to really ponder whether I am enjoying it or not.  It is definitely, at minimum, a full-time job in and of itself.  I do not know how many of my classmates balance their lives as full time parents with young babies and toddlers or multitudes of kids to transport here and there, and care for 24 hours each day.  Nor do I see how people are balancing this program with working full time, or anywhere near part time even.  I am grateful that the classes do seem to build on each other, and we seem to revisit important information relatively often.  

Definitely I remain in awe of the information we are learning, and will be able to apply in our careers. There is so much that scientists have discovered about the human and body and how it works, and are discovering all the time more nuances and intricacies, although I know that we will never be able to describe it all solely in a physical manner.  I am almost in as much awe of what scientists have learned through the centuries as I was and am with the acupuncturists and herbalists in ancient China learning what they knew about energy, meridians, and natural medicines.   I am eager to learn more about pharmaceuticals and how they work in the body to increase health, so that I can apply the knowledge I have gained and am gaining at Creighton.  At the same time, I realize I have never worked my brain so much and so hard for such seemingly mediocre results, grade-wise.  It has really been a matter of continuing to let go of the perfectionism I've carried with me all of these years, and hoped I'd balanced.  I definitely felt I had to sacrifice what might have been a couple of sure A's to devote time and energy to the more difficult classes and maintain them at reasonable grade levels.  Definitely a balancing act, and not one that included much balance in the rest of my life.  Thankfully, I have a super supportive husband, and all of my kids are doing well off at college, and all of the drama from last year (big move, cats dying, having a high school senior to keep tabs on) was not this year.  My acupuncture practice is small, as it needs to be, and I still enjoy treating people and helping them feel better on many levels.

A recent incident in our Pharmacology class definitely re-triggered memories from my time as a student in TCM school, and especially my time as Academic Dean in the same school.  One of our pharmacology professors suggested a relatively lewd means of remembering a certain drug during the lecture, and one of the campus students took offense and wrote to the professor about his/her discomfort.  The next class period the professor offered a survey suggesting that his comment was not out of line, and that he was justified in it if it helped us to remember the specific drug to which he was referring.  He was obviously agitated, and was clearly not appreciative of the student's feedback, plus he took class time for the survey.  It seems obvious that he could have handled the situation in a more professional manner, by acknowledging that someone in the class was uncomfortable and/or perhaps dealing with it directly with the student, and move on with his job of teaching us.  A few weeks later we learned that this professor has been removed from our lecture schedule for next term.  Many members of the class are in an uproar in protest of this decision.  

The campus class president sent us all an email explaining the steps he has taken to try to reinstate this professor multiple times, and his lack of success in that endeavor.  It is obvious the on campus class feels passionately about losing a "good" professor, with the head of department taking over his lectures.  Plus many of the students are very angry at the single student who expressed their discomfort and put everyone in this position of a seemingly worse pharmacology class next semester.


My experience as an Academic Dean in a school where I had also once been a student has given me a very different perspective on the matter.  I quickly learned as the Dean, that the students know only a fraction of what happens on the other side of the equation with the faculty and administration.  The students only get a time-stamped glimpse, rather than an entire history, of ongoing issues with faculty, students, and administration.  Students, especially when they are stressed and anxious, will often form uprisings about a particular issue without full knowledge of all aspects of a situation or the ability to see beyond the here and now.  The students often do not understand how difficult it is to make an unpopular decision for the integrity and professionalism of the school.  Unfortunately, in the school where I was dean, we struggled to keep instructors, so had little pull when it came to disciplining those who were outright unprofessional, and any action would take years to implement, at the cost of the students receiving less than ideal education for which they were paying plenty of money.  



As the dean, I saw many of these petitions for change and uprisings and very very rarely did they amount to much because the school did not base its decisions on students' narrowed perspectives of how things had been run for eons.  That was a bit frustrating as the dean, because I saw many things that I thought I'd have some power in changing that I saw as issues as a student, and really had none.  What I ended up telling students is what I'd learned myself as a student in the school, is that what you put into it is exactly what you will get out.  Ultimately their success was up to them.  They were taught and given various perspectives and information, either poorly or phenomenally (mostly poorly though), and their input and energy into the information would determine the level of knowledge they would gain and take with them into the world of acupuncture practice. 

I have definitely encountered worse instructors in that school than the pharmacology professor involved and far, far, far worse professionalism with instructors and didn't directly complain to the administration when I was a student.  I also do not know this professor's history with student complaints, so cannot make a judgment based on that.  I am glad that a student did express concern for the content of the remark, if it made them uncomfortable.  Yes it might have been in a more professional manner than was relayed to us, but also the professor should not have taken class time for his "survey", and to express his obvious agitation.  I am unsure of which act was unprofessional in the department head's eyes, perhaps both?  Anyhow, again, I do not know the entire story, and I reserve the right to not judge or become emotionally involved.  I certainly do not feel any anger towards any of these characters in this play, and I am actually glad to see that Creighton University has the ability to nip these issues in the bud before they devolved (either with this professor or others nearby who are observing) into the chaos I endured in TCM school.

My plan is to rest up this break, enjoy my boys coming home, and whatever is to come next semester (as rumor has it, it is the most challenging semester of the entire program - and if this is the case, I have a lot of work coming up to make it through and do well) be prepared and enthused and take responsibility for what I put into my education so that I can graduate and become the best pharmacist/acupuncturist I can be, regardless of who is teaching what course for what reason.

A Seed is Planted January 2009

In a hope of documenting my thought process about my decision to obtain a PharmD. degree, I begin with the beginning...

First of all, I have a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Colorado at Denver.  I graduated summa cum laude, and completed the program as I was raising my children in their early years.  I thoroughly enjoyed the program, learning the nuts and bolts of what science understood about human life.  I enjoyed the chemistry and made it through the physics and some of the other requirements of the degree. I completed pre-medical courses just in case I decided that medical school was in my future.  I was also compelled toward various PhD programs in research in the biological field.  I even briefly considered pharmacy.  This degree was completed in 1998 and my children were still too young for me to pursue an intense full time program such as medical school.  I felt I had time to contemplate and would focus on my family and parenting.

Meanwhile, my health declined, due to stress, unexpressed emotions, and many other things. A dear friend of mine suggested I receive acupuncture to help with what I was experiencing.  Having my first acupuncture treatment was life changing for me.  I was able to make health- and life-changing decisions, and within a couple years found myself a single parent and in acupuncture school.

I completed the Master's in Chinese medicine, which includes 3 and 1/2 years of learning theory, the fundamentals of acupuncture, including point location, energetics and formulas for illnesses, as well as the many many herbs, both singly and combined in formulas to also assist with many ailments.  After completing this master's degree program I sat for the national board examinations and became Diplomate in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

For the past four years I have enjoyed being in practice, putting into place the things I have learned, and learning many new things that pertain to "real life" patients in Western society.  One of these being the reality that many patients live and exist in a Western society, with a very Western medical mindset and are taking a variety of Western pharmaceuticals.  In school we have one class that covers pharmacology and pharmacognosy (the pharmacology of herbs).  This is nowhere near enough, but is all we have to go by as Chinese Medical practitioners unless we take continuing education courses on this topic.  I have completed a few of these courses as part of the recertification process for the Diplomate certifications.  I spend quite a bit of time doing research for those patients who come to see me who are interested in trying Chinese herbal medicine, yet are taking the pharmaceuticals which might have various possible interactions that are important to know.

As a practitioner of Chinese medicine during this time in history in Western society, even though it is becoming more and more accepted as mainstream, it can be a challenge to build a practice as an entrepreneur to be self sufficient to support a family.  Many practitioners have supplemental income, sometimes through the income of a spouse, additional jobs, or some other means.  For me it has mainly been through child support, and various jobs through the years, including working as the academic dean for the acupuncture school.

This past June, after I'd been working on my practice full time (after having resigned from the Academic Dean position) for about 8 months, my practice declined to very minimal numbers.  Low enough for me to fully realize that without the supplemental income I would have been in great financial trouble.  It also was a wake up call for the reality that this supplemental income will be ending in the next few years.  Since I had plenty of time to contemplate the situation, I did a parasite cleanse, and gained much clarity on my future.  It became clear, now as my children are leaving the nest, that it is time to begin pursuing the process of applying to pharmacy school.  Pharmacy school was chosen for a few reasons.  One, it is "only" four years.  Two, I have most of the pre-requisites for the program completed since they are the same as the pre-medical pre-requisites.  Three, completing this degree would help me obtain the information I need to assist with my Chinese medical patients, and four, the Chinese herbal medicine knowledge I have can be used to assist in the Western medical field.

Those were my initial thoughts as I got the ball rolling on the application.  It was a piece of cake to apply, fun even, so that is a good sign.

During that first month of the process, I saw myself writing at least three books.  One from and for the perspective of Western allopathic medicine concerning Chinese herbal medicine and how it can fit.  Another for and from the perspective of Chinese medicine, on the world of Western medicine and how it fits together,or possibilities, etc.  And the third as a patient advocate in informing the "laypeople" of how to talk with their doctors as well as the integrative medical people they might be working with.  Including, also, the more common things to be aware of, in terms of herb and drug interactions.

Since this time, it has also become apparent that as herbal and supplemental medicine may become more greatly regulated by the FDA, and the role of Chinese medical "pharmacist" is released from our scope of practice, a practical portion of the solution might be to become a pharmacist and learn how becoming an "herbal pharmacist" could be a possibility for those in my current field.  I currently have no idea of how this looks or could look, it is solely an awareness of a possibility.

So, now as the various pharmacy school interviews are impending, which is very exciting as I see the fruits of my labors from last summer (and from much earlier) begin to manifest, I know that these visions will mold and shape, as I learn more about both medical paradigms, and learn how to bridge between them, in a concise manner that will be greatly beneficial to everyone who endeavors to learn more and take more control of their health.