Homeless Clinic Volunteering, finals, and off to Anaheim!!!

HOMELESS CLINIC
The friday before finals--while others scrambled to cram for the Patient Counseling Competition later that evening, I hopped onto the N-Judah bus and made my way to Civic Center's Homeless Clinic. The clinic offered free flu vaccines that day and needed our help in vaccine counseling (which we learned the 2nd week of school) and documenting the vaccinations given. A vast majority of San Francisco's homeless population live near the Tenderloin and Civic Center. You can tell by the dirty blankets and shopping carts scattered on the sidewalks. The clinic does an awesome job of documenting the health of these individuals which can be really tricky. That day, it was relatively slow but I met several interesting patients.

One lady in her late 30's, told me she wanted to go back to school to learn about computers as she stripped the 6 layers of clothing she had on. Apparently she wore her entire wardrobe. She was very sweet and asked how I was able to get into pharmacy school. She t0ld me coming to America was not what she had envisioned. She didn't realize finding a job with her limited english proficiency would be so difficult. You can tell from the way she spoke that she was very hardworking and very smart.

Another patient came in with back and arm pain because he fell off a ladder at work. Apparently his high risk job doesn't provide insurance so he comes to the clinic to get his checkups and medicine. Though my spanish was a bit rocky, I was impressed at how patient he was and very cheerful. I guess he was glad to be off work.

The nurse, also a UCSF graduate, administered the vaccines to the patient while I counseled them on the possible adverse reactions from the vaccine. When it was down time, the nurse let me fill the syringe with the vaccine so I was super excited and kinda nervous because she was watching my every step. And the cool thing is that she taught me better aseptic techniques which I didn't get a chance to learn during training sessions.

FINALS WEEK
Finals week wasn't so bad. I actually like the quarter system better compared to the semester system at Cal. The midterms cover less material and the finals, though they are one right after the other, cover aterial over a shorter span of time. Hooray! I realized the secret is to start studying early-like 2 weeks in advance because that way you'll be less stressed out and will absorb the material better. Near the 4th day of finals, it was more difficult to concentrate so I had to kill time before I could sit down in the evening to study for my Biostats final the next day. For half of my classes, a cheat sheet was allowed which made studying a whole lot easier. Though I never really use the cheat sheet during the actual test, I feel that it helps me to focus my studying.

ANAHEIM CONVENTION
Still recovering from finals, about 25 of us hopped into a car and made our way down south to the ASHP (American Health-System Pharmacists) Convention in Southern California. ASHP is a national organization with a history of preventing medication errors and represents working pharmacist in hospitals, long term care facilities, and home care.

Some students will say the best part is the exhibit hall where big name pharmaceuticals dispense freebies to get health professionals to learn more about their drug and consequently prescribe the drug more often. Elegant personalized fountain pens were among the hot items for grabs, along with a laptop mouse from Amgen, a leather encased portfolio from Genentech, a set of exercise bands from Levemir, an MP3 player, and a laundary bag with wheels. Some students grabbed extras for christmas presents. You'd be mesmerized by the enormity and scale of each pharmaceutical's booth, competiting with others to attract pharmacists and the like to their booth.

Some students will also say that the talks offering free catered dinner is the best part. These talks, sponsored by pharmaceuticals, lured in hungry spectators who sat listening to representatives describe the efficacy of the drug made by the very same pharmaceutical. Some dishes served were salmon, shrimp cocktail, asparagus. A table filled with delectable desserts lined the back wall for those with a sweet tooth.