F
or Todd M. becoming a pharmacist has always been his dream. The four years it has taken to finish his degree are finally coming to an end. In May Todd will graduate and go to work at a Walgreens in Huntsville, Alabama.
In the interview Todd talks about his last year as a pharmacy student going through rotations. He has learned a lot and had great experiences.
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At age 22, Allen McDaniel is learning the transition from undergraduate to professional school isn’t easy. McDaniel is in his fourth year at Auburn University, but he is already in his second semester of pharmacy school. While most of McDaniel’s friends and peers are still undergraduates, McDaniel is dealing with the demands of pharmacy school. “I’ve had to change my priorities,� he said.
McDaniel is finding that professional school leaves him with little free time. On a typical day, he spends four hours in class and four hours studying. When he has a test, he increases his study time to six hours a day. “You definitely have to be in a mind set to be done with undergraduate college, and be moving on towards a job, because professional school really is like a job,� McDaniel said.
Through pharmacy’s curriculum, McDaniel takes classes that prepare him for dealing with patients. In his drugs and diseases class, he is learning about different diseases and how to treat them with medication. McDaniel uses this knowledge every week when he visits a patient he has been assigned to monitor. He takes his patient’s blood pressure and keeps up with his medication.
McDaniel is one of many students who enter into pharmacy school without an undergraduate degree. When McDaniel found out that a degree wasn’t required, he decided to start graduate school after his third year at Auburn. He wanted to begin the program, so he could start his career as soon as possible.
For McDaniel, pharmacy school runs in his blood. Both of his parents graduated from the same program at Auburn, and his sister is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in pre-pharmacy. His parents’ love for the profession sparked McDaniel’s drive to excel in his rigorous curriculum.
McDaniel has two years left of in-class instruction before he starts his last year of rotations. He hopes that his last year will give him the experience to decide which side of pharmacy he will pursue.
While the first year of professional school hasn’t been easy, McDaniel doesn’t regret a minute of it. “Nothing about pharmacy school is easy, but when the payoff is a job I’ll love, it’s worth the work,� he said.
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Being accepted into the Auburn University Harrison school of Pharmacy is a goal that many undergraduate students at Auburn would like to attain. It’s a difficult task, but for one Auburn student, her dream came true.
Amanda Hibbert, 22, is in her first year of pharmacy school. She started in the fall of 2006 and plans to finish in May 2010. Amanda got her undergrad in animal science/pre-vet in the college of Agriculture.
“I decided to go to pharmacy school because of the goals I had set for myself, I wanted to be a professional, I didn’t want to work behind a desk and I get to surround myself with people all day,� said Hibbert.
Hibbert worked as an intern for Walgreen’s as a pharmacy tech. She filled prescriptions, but said she learned a lot about the business that is pharmacy. (more…)
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There are several organizations and student programs on Auburn’s campus that provide honoring and awarding opportunities for students. However sometimes these organizations become overlooked and do not receive the recognition deserved. The Medical D program for pre-health majors is one of the outstanding programs at Auburn University that goes unnoticed or unrecognized by individuals that are non-members. Medical D provides students who are pursuing careers in health-related professions with volunteer opportunities and contributes services to the community through the students’ work.
The Medical D’s motto is, “Providing Service to the Healthcare Sector and Opportunities for Students,â€? and it does exactly that and much more. Each member of the program volunteers at the East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) weekly for two hours. During their volunteering, they are able provide service to the hospital staff and patients while learning and watching the different sectors of the health field. The Medical D volunteers learn how to be polite and responsible through the hands on experience they receive while at the hospital. “Choosing to pursue a career in the health professions is a lofty goal. The road to achieving this goal can be long and difficult,” said Beverley Childress, Medical D faculty advisor and College of Sciences and Mathematics Director of Pre-Professional Programs.
Virginia Planz, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences says, “I really am appreciative of my time I spend volunteering through the Medical D program. Not only am I able to experience all aspects of the health field, but I am also able to learn life lessons from interaction with the patients while making a difference in their lives.�
However many do not realize the services the Medical D volunteers are contributing to the healthcare community of Auburn/Opelika and the differences they are making in patients’ lives. The volunteers have opportunities to work with patients one-on-one transporting them around the hospital or all the way up to assisting with the AIDS Outreach Program. “There have been so many opportunities for me to make a difference in a patient’s life through being a Medical D volunteer. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a smile to brighten their day or if you assist in improving their medical condition, you know that are always making a difference for a patient,� states Planz.
Each member of Auburn’s Medical D program continually makes a difference in the community by volunteering at EAMC hospital. Volunteers have impacted and influenced the attitudes of EAMC employees and fellow community members. Medical D members are supported and valued by employees because of their committed efforts to the hospital’s health care. Also, they have “received positive feedback from patients and patients’ families on their outstanding concern, care and time they devote to individual patients,� says Jennifer Canon, Registered Nurse and Case Manager at EAMC.
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The glass walls allow those walking by to see the shelves stocked with various medications. From every aspect it looks like a pharmacy and a clinic, but the difference is there are no physicians. Auburn’s Pharmaceutical Care Center is the only clinic like it in the country.
Emily Mann, director of Pharmaceutical Care Center Operations, runs the clinic here in Auburn, the clinic in Birmingham and the one that will be opening in Huntsville.
The care center is different from other clinics because it is 
pharmacist driven; all services are provided by the pharmacist, not a physician.
The Care Center is run this way because it is allowing students to get experience and to show them the evolving role of the pharmacist.
“Because of the growing complexity of medications, the role of the pharmacist is becoming more hands on,� Mann said.
In school, pharmacists learn more about drugs than pre-meds do, which make pharmacists the drug expert. Auburn has realized that there is a need for pharmacists to have an overall knowledge of healthcare, so they are trying to prepare its students.
Services the Care Center offer:
Immunization shots
Cholesterol and Osteoporosis screenings
Body mass index
Glucose
Helicobacter Pylori
Disease State Management:
education and assistance with managing chronic conditions
Medication Therapy Management:
review and counseling on your medications
Wellness and Disease Prevention:
Healthy Habits program
“Take Control�: women’s health program
“Pack It Up�: smoking cessation program
Below is a podcast of Elaine Albright, an Auburn student in her fourth year of pharmacy school, who does her rotations at Auburn’s Pharmaceutical Care Center.
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