The Season of GREAT Days!

Happy October Birthdays!!!! (since mine is in October)

Happy Halloween!!

Time to Think About Rotations

Starting in May, as a sixth year pharmacy student, I get to complete 8 rotations at which I will be practicing different pharmacy skills. Each rotation is 6 weeks long and each site offers something a little different. There are certain requirements for that I have to fulfill. For example I have to do at least two rotations with a faculty advisor, one rotation in a hospital, one rotation in a clinic, and so on. I am getting excited because I actually get some hands on experience and get to LEARN a whole lot; however, I am EXTREMELY nervous as well because rotations won't be cheap nor will they be easy. I feel like I do not know enough. Either way, the rotations are coming and I have to put in my preferences in a few weeks. We do not get to choose per say, but we get to put in our preferences and see what happens from there.

These are some of the Rotations that I am currently thinking about for next year:


Faculty Site
Iowa Methodist Med Ctr. Internal Medicine-Wall, 1200 Pleasant - Des Moines -h
Broadlawns Medical Center-Psych, 1801 Hickman Road - Des Moines -h
Blank Children's Hospital Pediatrics - Bell, 1200 Pleasant - Des Moines -h
VA Cntrl IA Hlth Care System-DM Div.-CC/Surg, Pharmacy 119 - Des Moines


Acute Care
Iowa Methodist Med Ctr. Internal Medicine-Wall, 1200 Pleasant - Des Moines - h
Mercy Hosp Med Ctr - Maki Internal Medicine, 1111 6th Avenue - Des Moines - h
Regional Medical Center-Manchester, 709 W. Main Street - Manchester -h
Waterloo Covenant Medical Center Pharmacy, 3421 W 9th Street - Waterloo - h


Ambulatory Care
Kerr Drug Health Care Center, 275 McDowell Street - Asheville
Mansmith Pharmacy, 3204 1st Street - Emmetsburg –h
PharmMD Solutions, LLC, 216 Centerview Dr., Suite 390 - Brentwood(TN) - H


Hospital
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Pharmacy Department - Park Ridge
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, Pharmacy Department - La Crosse
Christian Hospital, Pharmacy Department - St. Louis
Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Pharmacy Department - St. Louis


Community
Mansmith Pharmacy, 3204 1st Street - Emmetsburg
Methodist Plaza Pharmacy, 1212 Pleasant Street - Des Moines
Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Pharmacy Department - St. Louis
Osco Drug #3422, 122 North Vail Street - Arlington Heights
Target Pharmacy-Urbandale, 11148 Plum Drive - Urbandale


Diverse Site
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Pharmacy Department - Park Ridge
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, Pharmacy Department - La Crosse
Broadlawns Medical Center-Psych, 1801 Hickman Road - Des Moines
VA Cntrl IA Hlth Care System-DM Div.-CC/Surg, Pharmacy 119 - Des Moines
Community Support Advocates, 333 SW 9th Street, Suite C - Des Moines


Specialty Care
Keefer's Pharmacy, 5 West Prospect Avenue - Mt. Prospect - h
Diamond In-Patient Headache Unit, 2900 North Lakeshore Drive - Chicago -h
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Pharmacy, 251 E. Huron - Chicago
Cherokee Mental Health Institute, Pharmacy Department - Cherokee
CarePlus Pharmacy, 32 North Euclid Avenue - St. Louis
Missouri Baptist Medical Center-Nutrition, Pharmacy Department - St. Louis

Non Patient Care Site
Lundbeck Inc., Four Parkway North - Deerfield - h
Iowa Pharmacy Association, 8515 Douglas, Suite 16 - Des Moines
Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, One Takeda Parkway - Deerfield
National Association of Chain Drug Stores, 413 North Lee St. - Alexandria
Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Co., PO Box 370 - Algona
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fisher Lane - Rockville

Most Everyone Could Use One of These!

Georgetown student advertises for a personal assistant
The successful applicant will do laundry, gas up the car and handle other 'everyday tasks' for busy sophomore

By Jenna Johnson
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Georgetown University sophomore Charley Cooper is busy. He has a full load of classes, hours of homework and a part-time job at a financial services company. He's also worried about an illness in the family. And then there are all the other time-consuming aspects of college.

The solution? A personal assistant.

Cooper, 19, logged on to the university's student employment Web site last week and posted an ad for someone to tackle "some of my everyday tasks," such as organizing his closet, dropping him off and picking him up from work, scheduling haircuts, putting gas in the car and taking it in for service, managing his electronic accounts and doing laundry (although the assistant will be paid only for the time spent loading, unloading and folding clothes, not the entire laundry cycle).

The successful applicant can expect to work three to seven hours a week and make $10 to $12 an hour, although "on occasion it will be possible to work additional hours and/or receive bonuses at my discretion." Preference will be given to Georgetown undergraduates, Cooper says in the listing, and the assistant can spread his or her tasks throughout the day.

"As my PA you will receive an email once a day by 9:00 am with a task list for that day and a time estimate for each task," Cooper wrote in the job listing, which was first reported by the student newsmagazine, Georgetown Voice. "Important tasks will be bolded on the list and must be done that day (even though everything on the list should theoretically be finished on a daily basis). At the end of the day you will send me an email telling me what tasks are incomplete or that all tasks have been completed."

Could this be a publicity stunt? Cooper said in a Facebook message to a reporter that he is completely serious and has heard from several interested students, in addition to a few prank applicants. A university spokesman confirmed that Cooper is a student and has posted the job listing.

Cooper would answer questions only through messages sent to his Facebook account, which features a photo of a man in a striped polo shirt holding a champagne flute. He provided only brief details about himself, his family and his job: He grew up in Bethesda and graduated from the Landon School, a private boys school, in 2008. He lives in the dorms and hasn't declared a major but is planning to double-major in finance and management, perhaps with a minor in Spanish. His Linked-In profile says he is considering jobs in finance, entertainment or both. In the spring, he got a part-time job in the D.C. offices of a financial services company that he didn't want to identify, where he works as an assistant and manages a team of interns.

Cooper said he decided to post the help-wanted ad after a family member had a cancer diagnosis and began to make arrangements for treatment at Georgetown University Hospital. Cooper says he hopes to start interviews in a few days, after the craziness of midterms has passed. "I know that if I didn't already have a job, I would definitely be interested in a job that pays 10 to 12 dollars per hour and is flexible in terms of hours," he said.

The Georgetown Voice posted the listing on its blog Friday under the headline, "Georgetown sophomore seeks personal assistant, takes premature self-importance to whole new level." Soon, dozens of derogatory comments popped up accusing Cooper of furthering the stereotype that Georgetown is filled with wealthy kids who can't do anything for themselves.

"Everybody probably knows who he is now," said Sarah Murphy, 19, a sophomore English major who heard about the job listing from friends. "People are not happy. They think he's just ridiculous and full of himself."

But other students were more understanding. "Listen, I think if there's a market for it, and someone wants to do it, all the more power to him," said Corey Sherman, 20, a junior international politics major who has two jobs. "Maybe he just wants the personal touch -- knowing the human being folding his underwear." (Earlier in the week, a Georgetown junior posted a similar job listing, according to the Georgetown Heckler, a campus humor blog. The student did not respond to an e-mail Thursday and it could not be determined whether the listing was a parody.)

Although the posting created buzz, outsourcing dull duties is not a new thing at Georgetown or other universities. Some students pay to have their group houses or apartments cleaned, or contract with Soapy Joe's, a company that will pick up dirty laundry from the dorms and return it clean and folded within days.

Still, springing for a personal assistant is "definitely out of the ordinary," said Bonnie Low-Kramen, the longtime personal assistant to actress Olympia Dukakis. Low-Kramen teaches workshops to aspiring celebrity personal assistants and wrote a book titled "Be the Ultimate Assistant."

"Whenever someone gets wealthy or famous, things can fall through the cracks," she said. "There's no chance someone like Scarlett Johansson or Angelina Jolie end up on all of those covers without a team of people."

But college students are rarely mature enough to handle the responsibility of managing a personal assistant, said Low-Kramen, whose son is a senior at the University of Maryland (and does not have a personal assistant).

"There's a benefit to learning to do things on your own," she said. "I know -- college is stressful, there's a lot to do. But the pressures are still nowhere near needing a personal assistant."

What's Going On at Drake?

An Email was sent to all students and Faculty on Thursday morning. It read:

Suspicious backpack outside Howard Hall found to contain a toy gun

At approximately 8:02 a.m. today, a Drake University staff member called Campus Security after finding a suspicious unattended backpack on the exterior south landing of Howard Hall. A cryptic but nonthreatening note attached to the backpack contained the cell phone number of a Drake student.

Campus Security immediately responded and called the Des Moines Police Department, which sent the bomb squad.

While Campus Security officers kept people away from the backpack, members of the bomb squad took an x-ray of it. The x-ray showed what appeared to be a handgun.

Members of the bomb squad attached a rope to the backpack and dragged it away from the building and onto the lawn. There, they opened the backpack and found it contained a toy metal cap gun, a toy dinosaur and Twinkies.

The investigation is continuing as Campus Security and the Des Moines police question the student whose phone number was attached to the backpack.

A sweep of all other Drake buildings found no unattended backpacks or other suspicious items.

End Email

Should I laugh or be scared?

My Week...

You're NOT Welcome

Certain people in life just make you feel bad as a person. I have a hard time with these people because I mistakenly take everything personally. It is hard for me to just brush off people's criticism yet it is easy to oversee people's compliments.

As usual, the pharmacy was packed with patients at the post work rush. All the patients there are there for different reasons and in different moods. Some extremely rushed while some very sick and others worried about what is going to happen to their health. We were filling dozens of prescriptions while offering dozens of flu shots. I never get to sit down at work or relax and that day, I was running around helping patients inside the pharmacy. As I turned to attend to patients in the drive thru, a very angry stare met my greeting. The patient was VERY upset and started yelling at me about having to wait ten minutes (which was a bit of an exaggeration) to be acknowledged and served. I was very apologetic and got her medications rung up as quickly as I could so to keep her satisfied. Well that was not enough for her. As I asked her to verify her address (as we have to to make sure we are giving the right prescription to the right person), she once again yelled at me that she has not moved and she thinks I am waisting her time by asking her silly questions. She just kept telling me how long she had to wait and how rude we all were for making her wait and asking her stupid questions. Once again I was very apologetic and tried to make her less angry by asking her if she had questions or if there was anything I could do to help her visit. Of course she just kept yelling and drove off upset.

This situation made me feel about 2 feet tall. I know this situation was not something I could really control so I felt that this women was out of line in her complaints and accusations. I had been working my butt off trying to make all the patients comfortable. All of the patients were in the same situation/wait time as her. I did not favor anyone in the situation and yet she felt she had to yell at me, personally, about how rude and inconsiderate I was. I need to bite my tongue so not to raise my voice with her and take her blame. I took all her yelling and apologized (for something I did not need to apologize for) yet she was still ungrateful.

After the women drove off I wanted to quit on the spot. These situations and people really make me question the field I am getting into, my competence and my personal nature. To these people, I say, You are NOT Welcome, because you make me want to quit even trying to be a kind individual.

Before you blow up at people, remember how you will make the other person feel in doing so! The age old question....how would you feel if you were the other person?

My Love/Hate Relationship

I LOVE my computer because it connects me to the world and all of my work has to be done on the computer. Plus my life is pretty much attached to and copied onto the computer.

I HATE my computer because I do not know it well enough and sometimes it just decides to delete documents that I have been working on for 2 hours! GRRRRR!

Excuse Me...What is This?

People never cease to surprise me. This is especially relevant when working in a customer service position.

It was a typical Tuesday night at work. The pharmacist and I were trying to get things in order to prepare the pharmacy to close in about 30minutes. A women drives up in the drive through. She begins to ring the bell to get our attention (as if we did not know she drove up). She continues to ring the bell, like many others do, as if their fingers are permanently fixed to the button. I approach the window and ask her what I can do to help her. I was waiting for her to give me the name on a prescription we might have ready for her or request a refill on an old script.

Instead she pulls out a huge contraption from her passenger seat and yells out, "What is this thing?" It is dark outside at this time and all I can see her holding is some large white coffee maker looking machine. She goes on, "I got it for free from someone and I did not know how to use it. Can you tell me what it is and how to use it?"

I ask, "Ms. Could you please bring that closer to your window?" So she does. I realize what it is and reply, "Ms. that is a humidifier to moisturize the air. You need to fill it with water, plug it in and turn it on."

She then mentions, "I was thinking that, but wanted to make sure. I know that pharmacists are good with these kinds of things so I brought it in."

As the woman left happy that she could use this machine and satisfied with my help, I thought, why would someone bring a humidifier to a pharmacy to be identified? Why not a home goods store or large retailer? I guess it did not really matter. I wanted to laugh because of how silly it seemed but at the same time I felt honored that the woman had thought of the pharmacy as the first source of reference. She brought her question to the pharmacy first which showed trust and confidence in the profession.

Pharmacists are there to answer questions and help relay information, so I guess if we aren't being utilized for drug information we might as well be helping out with appliances or humidifiers.