In my former life (pre-pharmacy school), I was a manager for a chain drug store. For the purposes of this article, I will affectionately refer to it as "Globo Gym."
I was in this role during a pivotal moment in pharmacy practice--the year that pharmacists gained the widespread ability to administer vaccines.
Read MoreChances are you've been advised to carry malpractice insurance at some point during your career. In a litigious society such as ours (presuming you're in the U.S.), this is probably good advice for us all (#AAAE).
However, just because you're a pharmacist doesn't necessarily mean you need to run out there and get the cadillac of insurances...
Read Moretl;dr - Assume that everything you read about a drug is somewhere between slightly misleading and complete bullshit.
Read MoreAs a health care professional, one of your duties is to evaluate literature and make clinical decisions for your patients. What? I didn't say it was an easy part of your job. Maybe not even a fun part. You've got to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. To read between the lines and see through the BS. To arrive at that happy place where sound evidence-based decisions come from.
This special tl;dr two-part post will help you see some of Big Pharma's tricks--so you'll be better prepared when you read up on that new drug approved by the FDA.
Part I is like a mini journal club. We'll focus on a recent secondary analysis of the ARISTOTLE trial.
Part II will take a broader look at the other marketing practices of Big Pharma.
Read MoreThere's a dirty little secret about life in the first few months after graduation. Many, if not most, entered this profession with the promises of riches and fame (well, maybe not the fame). The initial offer from that major pharmacy chain has more significant figures than your algebra teacher ever required you to round to. And for nearly everyone it will be a tremendous jump in income. Especially considering you've been living on so many student loans that your net income has been negative for 4 years.
Read MoreThe moment you press "submit" on PhORCAS, the doubting begins. It lives in the back of your mind. And it's scary as hell.
You try to go on about your day. You try not to think too much about it. You go work out. You play some Call of Duty. You binge-watch Downton Abbey. But like a small itch, there it is. Nagging you. The question lingers somewhere in your brain no matter what you do.
What if you don't match for residency?
Read MoreHey everyone! Brandon and Sam here. We're the founders of tl;dr pharmacy.
Let's just come out with it: Pharmacy School is hard. No matter what program or year you're in, pharmacy school is the dominant part of your life. And what a stressful life it is.
Sleepless nights. Tests. Quizzes. Quizzlets. Exams. Quizzams. Presentations. Group projects. Monographs. Clinical labs. Sitting through 8 hour lecture days (and being expected to pay attention). Navigating a sea of professional organizations and fraternities. Ignoring friends and family for weeks at a time because you're "too busy." A growing six figure pile of debt. Picking up hours as an intern so you can buy food. Fire and brimstone falling from the sky. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.
It's something we've come to call "The Struggle." Every pharmacy student intuitively understands it, but no one can really explain it to someone outside of the profession.
Read MoreIf you are reading this, I am reasonably confident that you have been through the interview process before. Maybe it was for a job, maybe it was for pharmacy school or residency--but more than likely you’ve experienced the sweaty palmed, butterflied stomach anxiety that is “the interview.”
But what if interviewing didn’t have to be like this? What if you could learn to not only tolerate but to thrive in an interview? What if you could walk into an interview knowing that you are the best person for the job?
Read MoreI was asked by a student once how she could make her resume more competitive for a residency.
Notice the subtle, yet instructive phrasing.
“How can I make my resume more competitive” vs. “How can I make myself more competitive.”
This minor difference in emphasis amplifies over the course of 4 years and leads to a residency candidate and/or future pharmacist that is all polish, no substance.
Read MoreIf you've spent any amount of time on tl;dr pharmacy, you'll notice that our material doesn't read like most other sources of pharmacy education out there. In fact, it is almost nothing like it. This is an intentional move on our part.
Traditional thinking says that “Students have to learn the medical terms anyway. It’s better to just immerse them in it so they learn them more quickly and completely!”
I can see how that might work if you're spending a semester abroad in France. But I'm not so sold on how effective it is for learning medical terminology.
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