Rotation Preparation
April 5, 2010 11:46 AM Subscribe
I am a pharmacy student studying for a PharmD. In May, I begin my hospital rotations. What do I need to do to prepare for rotations?
I have been considering reading a really thick textbook over the next 30 days - something like Current Medical Diagnosis and Therapy 2010. I have already started to translate the textbook into a computer-read file that I can listen to on a CD. I was considering doing the same with Harrison's Internal Medicine or Dipiro's book. Is this a good idea? What resources should I study to prepare myself?
I am not terribly concerned about grades at this point - I am more concerned about learning as much as possible.
I have been considering reading a really thick textbook over the next 30 days - something like Current Medical Diagnosis and Therapy 2010. I have already started to translate the textbook into a computer-read file that I can listen to on a CD. I was considering doing the same with Harrison's Internal Medicine or Dipiro's book. Is this a good idea? What resources should I study to prepare myself?
I am not terribly concerned about grades at this point - I am more concerned about learning as much as possible.
Best answer: i know you're just asking about reading, and i can't help you there, but from experience at jobs where you're on your feet a lot: make sure you have a REALLY good pair of shoes, just like you see on nurses and waiters.
posted by lia at 12:04 PM on April 5, 2010
posted by lia at 12:04 PM on April 5, 2010
Best answer: My lovely girlfriend is a pharmacy student entering her rotation year, too; I'll ask her later if she has any good advice for you. But just in case there aren't too many pharmacists lurking around here, studentdoctor.net might be a good alternative. Their pharmacy forums are pretty well-trodden, and she's used it for advice in the past.
posted by gushn at 12:15 PM on April 5, 2010
posted by gushn at 12:15 PM on April 5, 2010
Best answer: Has anyone ever read a monstrously long textbook in a short time, for instance?
Yup. It used to be that when I was in a rush with my textbooks, I would skip the chapter objectives at the beginning, all the tables and figures throughout, and the summary points at the end. But I've found that if I'm REALLY in a rush, the best thing to do is read all of those pieces, and then scan the text. Reading the objectives and the summary points first will help you know which parts to actually pay attention to when you're scanning, and the figures can often help illustrate a point way more quickly than reading the entire page that describes the numbers or concept.
I'm a nursing student, so not sure how well this will apply to your pharm rotations, but I've found it helpful to focus my reading on whatever section of the hospital I'm about to go into. Med-surg rotation? I don't need to read the entire med-surg textbook beforehand, because I know I'm going to be on a neuro floor. I focus my efforts on those chapters, and catch up with the rest later. When I did my OB rotation, I made sure to brush up on OB stuff. If you try to read EVERYTHING, you'll (a) forget most of it because you won't use it anytime soon, and/or (b) go crazy from too much information.
How did you get the text to be read by a computer for listening? I would love to have that for my long bus commute!
posted by vytae at 1:16 PM on April 5, 2010
Yup. It used to be that when I was in a rush with my textbooks, I would skip the chapter objectives at the beginning, all the tables and figures throughout, and the summary points at the end. But I've found that if I'm REALLY in a rush, the best thing to do is read all of those pieces, and then scan the text. Reading the objectives and the summary points first will help you know which parts to actually pay attention to when you're scanning, and the figures can often help illustrate a point way more quickly than reading the entire page that describes the numbers or concept.
I'm a nursing student, so not sure how well this will apply to your pharm rotations, but I've found it helpful to focus my reading on whatever section of the hospital I'm about to go into. Med-surg rotation? I don't need to read the entire med-surg textbook beforehand, because I know I'm going to be on a neuro floor. I focus my efforts on those chapters, and catch up with the rest later. When I did my OB rotation, I made sure to brush up on OB stuff. If you try to read EVERYTHING, you'll (a) forget most of it because you won't use it anytime soon, and/or (b) go crazy from too much information.
How did you get the text to be read by a computer for listening? I would love to have that for my long bus commute!
posted by vytae at 1:16 PM on April 5, 2010
Oh, and one strategy that has helped me when I'm trying to do a ton of reading (and still trying to retain the information) is to never read for more than an hour without at least some break. Read for an hour, go clean the bathroom mirror. Read for another hour, then clean the sink. Repeat ad nauseum. It gives your eyes a break, and gives your brain a chance to process some of what you've read. I do actually try to think about what I've read during these breaks, because it helps me figure out what parts I still don't understand (and what parts I've already forgotten!). Some people might advocate for letting your mind go to something else for a while, but I find that doing the mental review without looking at the book really helps my brain file the info away in a retrievable fashion.
posted by vytae at 2:17 PM on April 5, 2010
posted by vytae at 2:17 PM on April 5, 2010
Best answer: I'm a pharmacist. Most of my experience has been in hospitals, and I've done some teaching and supervising of PharmD students.
I have been considering reading a really thick textbook over the next 30 days
Oh god, no, don't do this to yourself. You should definitely do some studying before you start each rotation, but you don't need to know everything for every rotation, and if you try to learn everything at once you won't learn any of it well. (I'm currently studying ALL OF PHARMACOTHERAPEUTICS again myself to prepare for the board exam in another state, and it is a FUCK of a lot of information.) Ask around and find people in the class of 2010 or 2009 who did your rotations. Ask those people what to study. And as the year goes by, you'll be able to ask your classmates.
At my college, many preceptors also taught classes--if you have notes from lectures that your preceptor gave, reread those. If this is at a university hospital, do a pub med search on your preceptor, because the topics in which he or she is interested will probably be things you'll need to know about.
Off the top of my head, infectious disease stuff will come up in just about any hospital rotation. Know your antibiotics. Read the guidelines for treatment of both community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. The guidelines for skin and soft tissue infections might be good, maybe surgical prophylaxis, depending on the rotation. DVT prophylaxis. Pressors and sedation if you'll be in an ICU. If you want to comment or mefi mail me a list of your rotations I can be more specific.
posted by little e at 5:44 PM on April 6, 2010
I have been considering reading a really thick textbook over the next 30 days
Oh god, no, don't do this to yourself. You should definitely do some studying before you start each rotation, but you don't need to know everything for every rotation, and if you try to learn everything at once you won't learn any of it well. (I'm currently studying ALL OF PHARMACOTHERAPEUTICS again myself to prepare for the board exam in another state, and it is a FUCK of a lot of information.) Ask around and find people in the class of 2010 or 2009 who did your rotations. Ask those people what to study. And as the year goes by, you'll be able to ask your classmates.
At my college, many preceptors also taught classes--if you have notes from lectures that your preceptor gave, reread those. If this is at a university hospital, do a pub med search on your preceptor, because the topics in which he or she is interested will probably be things you'll need to know about.
Off the top of my head, infectious disease stuff will come up in just about any hospital rotation. Know your antibiotics. Read the guidelines for treatment of both community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. The guidelines for skin and soft tissue infections might be good, maybe surgical prophylaxis, depending on the rotation. DVT prophylaxis. Pressors and sedation if you'll be in an ICU. If you want to comment or mefi mail me a list of your rotations I can be more specific.
posted by little e at 5:44 PM on April 6, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for their answers. The answer to how I translate text into a WAV file is simply by having my mac speak the text, while using audacity to record it. Its kind of low-tech and inefficient, but it works.
Thank you for all of your answers on what to study. That definitely pointed me in the right direction.
posted by candasartan at 3:25 PM on April 18, 2010
Thank you for all of your answers on what to study. That definitely pointed me in the right direction.
posted by candasartan at 3:25 PM on April 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by candasartan at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2010