- Pharmaceutics: Solids and Semi-Solids
- Pharmcokinetics and Biopharmaceutic
I have completed the first class, and am almost finished with the second class, and unfortunately will have another pharmacokinetics class next semester as well. What I can honestly say that I have learned from these classes-and not for a matter of not trying-is that I understand "like dissolves like" and that there is such a thing as First Pass Metabolism. Other than these two fundamental concepts, there is not much more I understand or have learned from this class. The way this class is taught at the University of Iowa at least, is not benefiting me as a future pharmacist, or helping me do well in other classes. The main classes that matter I'm doing fine in, but this class which many pharmacists now will tell you is completely pointless, I struggle. It's not a matter of me not studying, or the professors being completely terrible, but the subject matter is something that I believe one should not have to be tested over.
One of the first things that they tell you in these classes is "there is no black and white" everything is very variable and dependent on individual patients. So how are we supposed to be tested on something when we have to take into consideration the certain circumstances of our clients? The way that my first exam for this class was structured was I was handed a 50 page handout of package inserts and drug product information along with the actual 18 page exam itself. I was then asked questions such as "What are the purpose of the following excipients in this product?" It angered me because the questions on the exam were questions that when pharmacist get ask-which I doubt is frequent-they learned the drug information resources their P1 year and can confidently search for this information in a quick and easy manner. I can't justify learning and memorizing different types of excipients when they're doing something different in every product. Nor do I believe that it is important to know the exact size of alveolar sacs and how fast a nasal spray is going to travel into the back of the throat. Along with this the fact that we received 50 pages to read for 5 point quizzes over anatomy questions to better our learning didn't do anything but hurt my grade, regardless of how well I studied.
My main frustration comes with the fact that I go to class, I take good notes, and I try to learn the concepts but they're so old age and not taught in a way that we as students can understand that it makes studying a complete misplay. I have been taught what hepatic clearance, volume of distribution, and area under the curve are time upon time, and yet if you asked me to tell you a definition of them, I couldn't. It's information that is being taught to us in a way that doesn't seem at all important, the teachers themselves even act like they don't want to be there, so how can they expect their students to enjoy what they're learning? It's bad enough hearing other professors at the college say that they as well don't think that they class has any purpose and what they're asking us is ridiculous. I feel that had I gained a better understanding of the basic concepts of what this class is trying to teach us I would be doing a better job in the class, but I even went into office hours last year to try and gain the basic concepts and came out with nothing. So in my opinion as far as testing for this class, I think it is a complete waste of time and that the students are gaining nothing from it.
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