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Columbus in the Fall

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Hi friends!

One of the things that I love most about about being at Ohio State is Buckeye football. There is nothing better than watching the Buckeyes play in The Horseshoe! The sound of the crowd is electrifying and captivating as the scarlet and grey barrel down the field. Friends and family come together to tailgate, eat and celebrate the Buckeyes along the Olentangy River. You can tell fall is in the air, and OSU football is in full swing!

Fall is my favorite season, and even if football isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty to do in Columbus as the leaves become a vibrant sea of red and orange amidst the crisp air.

  • Wander down the rows of apple trees at Cherry Hawk Farm Apple Orchard – Marysville or Lynd Fruit Farm. Pick some apples to eat or to bake with!
  • Enjoy delicious coffee at Stauf’s Coffee Roasters in German Village, one of my guilty pleasures!
  • Read a book – I’m currently reading The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur, as well as The Black Book by James Patterson
  • Try out a new recipe – I love to make homemade soups and chili when the weather becomes chilly.
  • Carve a pumpkin with friends and watch scary movies!
  • Take a long bike ride through one of the many metro parks in Columbus

Whatever you decide – make sure to take time for yourself, Buckeyes!

-Ashley

Finding Your Home in Columbus

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Posted on behalf of Samra Nageye

Hello!

Moving to a new city or state can be hectic without even considering the struggles of apartment hunting. A culture shock is one thing almost all newcomers face as they try to navigate through the new place they’ll call home. Relocating is no small task whether you’re a businessman, a small family, or college student. There is a lot of uncertainties when moving to a new city, and one of the biggest challenges you may face will be searching for a new place to live. Whether you left your apartment search until the last moment, or you kind of established your living situation before your move, finding the apartment that’s the best fit for you is an inevitable challenge. Do you want to live near campus, or further away in a more eccentric and quiet neighborhood? As an Ohio State student, there are many living selections from you to choose from.

Colony Square
Just minutes from the Ohio State University campus, Colony Square apartments are a very affordable and convenient option for students and all people. Why is this a great option? Well, although these living quarters are off campus, it is conveniently located just a few minutes from the Ohio State University campus, downtown, theaters, and other amenities. Its proximity to campus puts it at great advantage. With Ohio’s unpredictable weather, if your car were to ever break down, you can still rely on routine public transport at your discard. I live there myself, and I can tell you, service and convenience of Colony Square is almost unbeatable.

University Village
This apartment complex is a housing option for Ohio State University students. Just a 3-minute drive from campus, you are surrounding by the Buckeye spirit of community and joy echoed in the halls of these apartments. You will not feel the sense of belonging anywhere else. University Village has been around since the 1950’s servicing students of Ohio State University, as well as neighboring schools. It is the ideal off-campus location that offers seven shuttle buses that transports students to and from campus. University Village offers studio floor plans as well as 1-3 bedroom apartments compact with a Resident Life Center and great community features such as outdoor pools and picnic areas.

You could always opt for the traditional apartment route. Columbus is a great city that offers affordable apartments and houses for rent. You are never too far from public transportation, great restaurants, and of course, the great sites that the wonderful city has to offer.

Ways to be active on campus

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Hello Everyone! My name is Jamie and I’m a P2 and Diversity Ambassador for the College of Pharmacy. I’m from Sandusky Ohio, The Roller Coaster Capital of the World! I did my undergrad in psychology here at OSU and I’m currently and intern at Riverside Hospital. I really love walking around campus and exploring the food scene around Columbus.

Since it is early Fall Semester, I wanted to share some ways to be involved on campus outside of the College of Pharmacy. One of the best things about being a Buckeye is the endless opportunities we have to be active and involved within the campus community, Columbus, and beyond.

One of my favorite things to do is Buck-I Serve. Buck-I- serve is our alternative break trip here at OSU. Trips are offered during winter, spring and summer break. Trip destinations include New York, Florida, Georgia, Costa Rica and more. The purpose of these trips is to visit an underserved community and pay it forward during break. Depending on the destination, trip activities can include volunteering at soup kitchens, tutoring youth, cleaning aquatic preserves, and habitat for humanity. I have done buck-I serve multiple times and its always a lot of fun, it’s a way to meet new people and help those in need. The cool thing is, while these trips do cost money for undergrad, they don’t for professional students. As a Pharm D student you are eligible to apply as an Advisor, which makes the trip and travel expenses free. This is a leadership role, where you can use your leadership skills to help guide the trip and make sure everything runs smoothly. I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity as a professional student.

Another way to be involved is with OUAB grad/professional. OUAB (Ohio Union Activities Board) is a student org on campus that hosts free events for current students. Some of these events include free movie nights and therapy dogs during finals week. The grad/professional chapter specifically aims to enhance the personal growth of grad/prof students and help us reach our goals. They host events such as CV reviews, group fitness classes, leadership workshops, finance management courses, and much more. Attending these events is a way to meet other professional students on campus and a great way to take advantage of the resources they offer. There’s also leadership positions available, so you can play a part in planning these great events.

Lastly, other ways to be involved are the volunteer days held on campus. Two examples are Community Commitment and MLK Day. For these events you can apply online to be a site leader. The duties are to lead a small group of students to a volunteer site where you will simply volunteer for the day. I have been assigned to food banks, nursing homes, and community gardens for these events. It a fun way to give back to the community and meet new people. At the end of the day, as the leader you will lead your group in a reflection, just discussing what you learned and sharing any thoughts from the activity.

So now that you have some ideas, I really hope this encourages you to get active and involved here on campus. Whether it be pharmacy organizations or any of the ones listed above, its important to find what you’re passionate about and take advantage of the great resources we have available here at OSU. Go Bucks!

Staying on top of your studies while still having fun!

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Hello Everyone! My name is Rebekah Thomas, and I am a P2 and pharmacy ambassador for the College of Pharmacy! I am originally from Pittsburgh, and I attended Slippery Rock University for my undergraduate degree. Outside of class, my favorite things to do are walk around the park of roses, get Condados tacos, and ride the bird scooters with my friend!

With school in full swing, I just wanted to share some of the planning and organizational tips I collected through my first year at the college. I used to have this ability to remember due dates and stay on top of my tasks in high school and undergrad, but that didn’t really work well for me in my first year of school. Pharmacy school definitely keeps you busy, and it can get overwhelming trying to remember all of the events, due dates, and project deadlines from straight memory. I connected with my peers and mentors within the college to gain some tips to how to better organize my time for school and for activities.

SO here is my approach to staying organized while in pharmacy school:

  1. Get a planner or use a calendar. I swear your life will be much better organized if you can see what is coming up.
  2. The syllabus is your best friend. The first thing I do is write down all of the assignments, quizzes, tests, and other important dates in the monthly section of my planner. These dates can be tentative but at least they are there so you can plan ahead! I even color coordinate by classes and will highlight the test dates.
  3. If you work put the dates and times in this section when ever you get your schedule!
  4. Now that you have a good idea when you have things do and when your exams are, look at the days where you may have off or free. This will sound weird but pencil in some time for yourself! The first thing students tend to forget is to include time for them self because they become so overwhelmed with school. It is very important for your well-being to add this time for yourself. By penciling it in your planner you can plan around it to ensure you get the “me” time that you need!
  5. You now have a good idea of what your month is going to look like. It is going to look like a lot but do not worry because now you can plan out when and how you will accomplish the task and turn it in on time!
  6. Once I have my month filled out the best I can, I will sit down every Sunday and fill out the pages for the upcoming week. In this section, I will write in the important dates, block out time to do assignments, and block out time to study. I found that It is very important to pencil in your study time because you may push it off (I used to be a big procrastinator on studying. Don’t do that in pharmacy school! ).
  7. After you block out time to do school work and study, you can see when you have time to do other fun activities!

This seems like a lot of work, but I assure you that it will alleviate so much stress when it comes to tackling your school work. Mastering the “work-life balance” that everyone is talking about starts out with great planning.

 

Working in Pharmacy School – A Continuing Process

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This past week at the College of Pharmacy we had our annual Pharmacy Career Fair hosted by our Career Services office and American Pharmacists Association (APhA) chapter. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share with you my experiences with working while in pharmacy school. Before I share too much though and as this is my first blog post I would like to briefly introduce myself. 

My name is Killian Rodgers and I am a current P2 student here at Ohio State. Originally from the Washington DC area, I did my undergrad at the University of Michigan before moving on down to Columbus. Besides being an Ambassador Coordinator, I am the President of our chapter of Phi Delta Chi, a professional pharmacy fraternity. Outside of school I am a big foodie and love exploring the great food and craft beer scene here in Columbus!

One last thing before I discuss working in pharmacy school – I can’t stress enough that everyones experiences will be different. I have friends that don’t work at all, have friends who work nearly full time, and everywhere in between. There are so many different ways to handle jobs while in school and there is no “right” way to do it. 

When I started pharmacy school last fall, I had the mentality that I wanted to focus on my academic success for the first year and not work at all. So for the first month of school I ignored the emails and facebook posts with internship opportunities. However once I settled in and school got underway I realized the way the curriculum is set up is very conducive to working. I had Wednesdays completely off, half days on Friday, and could do all my school work during the week so I didn’t really need to worry about the weekends. So when the career fair happened last year I talked to a few employers and ended up having a great conversation with the recruiter for Meijer, a regional big-box store with a few locations around Columbus.

After a few interviews I was hired and started working with Meijer in October. I worked with them all through the rest of my first semester and through winter break. Besides having some extra money to help with expenses, working during the semester was great because it provided me with context for what we were learning in class. When we learned about counseling techniques, I was able to observe then practice them in real life with real patients. When we were certified as immunization providers I was able to turn around and start giving shingles vaccines to patients the very next week. Working gave me a great sense that what I was learning was applicable and useful. 

I worked with Meijer throughout the spring semester and into the summer as well but was beginning to realize that community pharmacy wasn’t my calling. So towards the end of the spring semester I began working with the OSU Wexner Medical Center in the Pharmacy Informatics department. This job is a very unique position that would take a whole different blog post to explain but I bring it up to share that so many people do have different jobs throughout school. One of the great things about internships is that they are easy to move between so you can experience new things as your interest change! 

Currently, I work my Informatics job during school and during breaks and absolutely love it. 

I think the key takeaway from my experiences working in pharmacy school is that you can find all sorts of opportunities and shouldn’t feel tied down to a single one. School is the best time to explore different types of pharmacy! I’ve found my niche but it was definitely a journey. 

Summer in Pharmacy School

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Hi Everyone!

 

With classes just beginning for the school year, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a glimpse into what summer as a PharmD student maylook like!

 

As a rising (now current) P3 my summer started at the beginning of May and ran through mid-August, which allowed for a pretty full schedule, including school rotations, community health service hours, internship hours at Nationwide Children’s, vacations, and of course time spent with family and friends!

 

Though it is not at all required to do, I enjoy doing some school rotations during the summer. I find that it allows me to keep my clinical knowledge fresh and allows me to have more free time during the school year to take a break or focus on other things. This summer I did my community rotation at Meijer, my patient care rotation with a hematology/oncology pharmacist at Nationwide Children’s, and my medication reconciliation rotation at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

 

Additionally, I was able to complete my community health service hours (CHS) by volunteering at free clinics around Columbus and with events at local elementary schools to help teach kids about the importance of medication safety. CHS hours are a wonderful way to give back to the community and many of the clinics rely solely on College of Pharmacy volunteers in order to run the pharmacy portion of the clinic.

 

A large part of my summer was also dedicated to my internship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. As an inpatient pharmacy intern, I help staff our main pharmacy and intensive care satellite pharmacy and perform medication reconciliations with patients in the emergency department. Additionally, interns participate in weekly intern meetings which further professional development through journal clubs, presentations and CV review. I also had my own research project to work on throughout the summer, that I later presented on at the end of summer, and 2 mini-clinical weeks in general pediatrics and with the cardiothoracic intensive care team from which we gave a case presentation. Fortunately, I absolutely love my job and workplace and thoroughly enjoy the professional development that it continually provides.

 

Of course, summer would not be complete without vacation/relaxation and time with family and friends! For me this meant starting the summer off with a weekend trip to Hocking Hills with a group of classmates, where we were able to hike/enjoy the outdoors and time with one another. I also had a long weekend trip to Nashville—my first time truly taking in the city, which was an absolute blast, especially as I am a huge food fan and love country music! You know it is a great trip when you manage to hit a popular restaurant spot for every meal—I highly recommend Biscuit Love, Five Daughters Bakery and Hattie B’s, though there are so many other spots to check out too! The summer ended with a very relaxing trip to Florida with close friends from class—with lots of time spent on the beach enjoying some sunshine! Throughout the summer, I had countless nights, days and weekends spent with family and friends, enjoying all that Columbus has to offer and the pool at my apartment.

 

Hopefully this glimpse at summer in pharmacy school can give you a look at what your future summers may also look like! However you choose to spend it, I highly recommend relaxing and enjoying yourself!

Cassie

Medication Management Program

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I remember when I first started pharmacy school and quickly realized that unlike some of my classmates, I knew very little about many of the common drugs used in community pharmacy. I wanted to get a job in pharmacy because I knew this would go a long way in helping me be a successful pharmacy student. Although getting a job in the first year of pharmacy isn’t the right move for everyone, it greatly helped me to put into practice the material I learned in the classroom.

My first Job in pharmacy was at the Medication Management Program  (MMP) here at The Ohio State University. I worked as a pharmacy intern. The Medication Management Program is a very unique first exposure to pharmacy. At this site, I was granted the opportunity to telephonically provide medication reconciliation services for patients.  As a first year student, it gave me a chance to better familiarize myself with commonly prescribed medications used in the geriatric population.

A typical work shift at MMP consisted of calling the patient, reviewing their medication list and updating the medication list with any changes either to the medications or to background information such as identifiers or the patient’s allergy profile.  After this medication reconciliation process, I was able to draft a letter with important pointers or reminders for the patient I spoke to. A pharmacist would then review my notes and approve a copy of the letter to be sent to the patient in addition to the electronic record kept on the patient’s profile.

I am so grateful that my first job was through the MMP as it gave me a great and flexibly paced way to learn the medications and their most common uses. Although I have now moved on to other opportunities, I will continue to sing the praises of the Medication Management Program at the Ohio State University. I am proud of the work the entire pharmacy team include the Technicians, Interns and Pharmacists do for our patient population.

As the field of pharmacy expands, I am certain in my evaluation that the MMP will also continue to grow and provide more opportunities for students.

One for All and All for One: A Spotlight on Kappa Psi

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Hello everyone!

It’s hard to believe that this year is winding down and my time as a P3 is coming to a close. In a few short weeks I will have finished my finals and will be moving on to Capstone. June seems so far away right now but before I know it will be day one of my first rotation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. But, before I get caught up in the nervous excitement of becoming a P4 I wanted to take a few moments to tell you about one of my favorite student organizations, Kappa Psi.

It is no secret that our college has a plethora of student organizations and each one offers something unique and valuable to its members. I myself have been a member of all 3 of our large organizations, APhA, SSHP, and SNPhA. But, my favorite organization here at Ohio State is by far Kappa Psi. The large organizations are fabulous for hearing about different opportunities and careers within the profession and ways that you can make an impact, but I have truly found a home within Kappa Psi.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, what makes Kappa Psi so special?  I won’t lie to you, it’s hard to put into words why Kappa Psi means so much to me, but I am going to do my best. One of my favorite things is that our chapter is extremely active in both our community and at school. This year we organized fundraisers for assisting the victims of Hurricane Harvey and raised funds for a virtual book drive for Reach out and Read. Here within Central Ohio we constantly volunteer for the free clinic Helping Hands and we made Valentines for the kids at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. But in order for us to be successful in our projects and initiatives we have to strong as a group. My brothers are some of my best friends and are always there for me when I need help with my classwork or time away from pharmacy school. Perhaps the best thing about Kappa Psi is that I feel connected to each class within the college and even with recent graduates. I have brothers in each class and Columbus has a graduate chapter and together we all support each other through the triumphs and challenges that arise in school. I honestly don’t think I would be the intern or student that I am today without my brothers. But, Kappa Psi is more than our chapter, Kappa Psi is the world’s largest pharmaceutical fraternity and our brotherhood goes beyond the city limits of Columbus.

This past weekend our Xi chapter journeyed down to Louisville, KY for our Spring Province meeting with the rest of our brothers from the Great Lakes Province. Our province includes chapters from local graduate chapters and schools including University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, Sullivan University, Ohio Northern University, Northeast Ohio Medical University, University of Toledo, Wayne State University, and Ferris State University. Going to Province is such an enjoyable experience for me because I love having the opportunity to network with fellow brothers from local schools (and sometimes brothers across the country!) and work on building strong relationships with them. While we may not see each other more than a few times a year, each time I meet up with a fellow brother we instantly pick up where we left off the last time and have a great time. I know that no matter what, I can always reach out to my fellow brothers to assist me in any way that I need.

ΚΨ Class of 2019 Brothers in Louisville, KY

Province offers many things to those who attend including continuing education credits, leadership discussions, financial planning sessions, and many more. But, one of my favorite parts of Province is the award ceremony where we honor the hardwork and triumphs of our local chapters for the year. I am happy to announce that the Great Lakes Province has been the most philanthropic province within Kappa Psi this year donating $4, 510 to our national charity Reach Out and Read! As an entire province we raised over $14,000 for various charities across the country to give back to our communities. Even more exciting news is that myself and the other brothers of Xi were the most charitable chapter within our province this year with our campaigns for Hurricane Harvey and Reach Out and Read! All in all, it was a great a weekend with my brothers and I left feeling inspired by the profession and my colleagues knowing that we truly do make a difference in people’s lives.

Xi Chapter posing with our Philanthropy Challenge Trophy

As my time within Parks Hall comes to an end, I have a sea full of memories about my time in the didactic portion of my PharmD, but almost all of them were made with my brothers of Kappa Psi. If there is any advice I could give to you as someone who is about to start their journey as a PharmD student, it would be to get involved and get involved early. Find your home within one of our many organizations and give it your all. Every employer or residency program is looking for leadership skills and those are things that can’t be entirely taught in the classroom. Also, take the time to go to the regional or national meetings because the networking opportunities associated with them are priceless. If you have any questions about our organizations or if you want more information about my experiences with Kappa Psi or other student organizations, feel free to reach out and email me.

It has been an absolute pleasure to share my thoughts and experiences as a student here at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your journey to becoming a PharmD!

Sincerely,

Chelsea

ΚΨ Family: L-R my twin’s little, one of my littles, my big, me, and my twin

Hospital Inpatient Internship

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I would like to share a little about my hospital inpatient internship.

I began my internship with Riverside Methodist Hospital inpatient pharmacy the summer before starting pharmacy school.  I had previous work experience in a community pharmacy but thought hospital would be a better fit and wanted to gain more insight.  I spent the summer training in various positions such as unit dose dispensing, IV preparations, and medication reconciliation.  When autumn semester began, I started a regular schedule working 8 hour shifts on Saturday/Sunday every other weekend and one 4 hour shift on a weekday evening, which averages 8-12 hours per week. I gained experience working both first (6:30am-3:00pm) and second (2:30pm-11:00pm) shifts.  While this schedule continued throughout the year, I had more time in the summer to pick up extra work shifts, get trained in new positions and shadow pharmacists in different specialties.  Through this internship I have been able to learn the differences between community and inpatient hospital pharmacy workflow.  I have also explored pharmacists’ roles in formulary management, administration, responding to codes, clinical research, and multi-disciplinary teams.  This past summer I was involved in more clinical tasks such as evaluating patient cases and dosing medications like vancomycin and warfarin.  These clinical experiences complement my learning in the classroom as I have been able to directly apply skills to real patient cases.  My internship has also encouraged me to get involved with protocol development and clinical research.  I am currently collecting data for a project focused on anticoagulant reversal agents.  Over the past three years, I have learned a lot about pharmacy and myself, including the career I wish to pursue.  So my recommendations are to explore and keep an open mind about your career. 

 -TaLeitha

ASHP Mid-Year

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Hi all!

This week I would like to talk with you about national conferences! As Victoria stated last week, pharmacy organizations such as OPA, APhA, ASHP and NCPA hold national conferences every year to showcase developments, new literature and to recognize outstanding technicians and pharmacists in their specialized fields! These conferences last several days and incorporate and attract hundreds if not thousands of attendees! It is a great way to branch out, meet new people and network with wonderful people in our profession!

In December, I was fortunate enough to attend Mid-Year, ASHP’s national conference in Orlando, FL! It was an amazing time traveling with my classmates to attend a conference focused on hospital pharmacy, which is where our passions are! (Getting out of Ohio’s cold weather was obviously a plus, too!)

National conferences host an array of activities that participants can attend such as workshops, lectures from distinguished speakers, poster presentations from pharmacy interns and pharmacy residents, as well as a Residency Showcase, which is the focus for a lot of P3 and P4 students. The Showcase shines light on many of the country’s terrific residency programs, and students have the opportunity to speak with program directors to find out more about those respective programs. As a current P2, it was neat to walk through the Showcase and learn more about the soecifics of these residency programs. I’m still undecided on what part of hospital pharmacy I would like to specialize in, so I really appreciated being able to see various programs and what they have to offer!

While we were in Orlando, we sat in on various lectures, including one about applying for residencies and the matching process, a focused lecture on a pharmacist’s soon to be role in medical marijuana, antibiotic resistance and how to combat this issue in hospitals with a push for more culture and sensitivity tests. It was refreshing to see different facets of pharmacy being addressed! It was a wonderful opportunity to attend a national conference!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at Erdmann.13@osu.edu.

All the best,

Ashley