Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Head, Meet Wall


"Ooooh oooh oooh, I know the answer!"

I have a feeling I'll be hearing that phrase, or some variation of it, a lot over the next three years. The biggest question is whether or not there is enough alcohol in the world to keep me from strangling said persons.

Case in point, we had our first group work of the semester yesterday. Nothing overly difficult, obviously, but it was the first interaction of small groups since we've been in pharmacy school.

And it made my head hurt.

What the hell is it with people? I derive the answer to a question their asking, explain it to them and their response is, "Well I understand what you're saying, but I'd prefer to have written proof from another source before putting that down as my answer."

Huh? It's the opening lab of the first year of pharmacy school. It's just a simple question which is not going to be scored? What the fuck does it matter?

Later on we come to another question in which they were a bit stumped. It involved how a certain aspect of the human body operated. I remembered, in great detail, how this action worked and explained it to them in as remedial terms as I could.

Their response? Ask a TA who repeated, almost word for word, what I said.

Then there was a question regarding data and whether or not it would be wise to draw a linear line through the points. There were six points and they were in a row, albeit not a perfect row though.

A debate began on what was meant by 'drawing through the points'. Did it mean that it had to go directly through the points, because the answer is no since you can't do that. What if the data plateaus off in the future or becomes parabolic. Maybe that one point is an outlier (it was maybe 2mm off the other data points) and shouldn't be counted.

All on one fucking question.

It's going to be an awful long three years...

10 comments:

Frantic Pharmacist said...

Uh oh. This does sound troubling. Everybody needs to put on the 'practical' hats, or else I hope none of them come through my pharmacy....

Anonymous said...

And they want to be Pharmacists? Somehow the 'practice' got lose along the way.

TechOnLOA said...

First, can you change groups and perhaps pick the non-idiots for your group?

Second, can you convince all of the people in the current group to practice in Canada or Mexico? Perhaps a nice online pharmacy? No where that I might come across them in the future, that's all I'm asking.

Anonymous said...

I have an opposite problem. I end up in groups where 80% of the members don't want to do any work, and the usually self-appointed group leader does just enough to get by.

TiredRPh said...

I drew the group lottery in school. First, let me say I HATE group work. I dreaded that first project. To my surprise, we worked great together. I can't explain it. Luck of the draw.

Sorry, you didn't win the lottery.

Anonymous said...

When they get worn out, they'll quit nit-picking... Unfortunately, I think that takes about two years. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Haha, it only gets worse buddy. I have final year students asking me if they should contact the doctor because "the patient is taking more than one blood pressure medication and the computer says it is a duplicate therapy." I wanted to hit my head on the counter...

Pharmgirl said...

You are a little bit older than most of the kids in your class, right? I was, and I had the same type of experience. They are insecure, have very little real-life experience outside of going to college, and feel like they have to prove that they are smarter than everyone else. Everyone has been blowing sunshine up their a**es about how they are the most brilliant of the brilliant just for getting in such a hard program. They will throw you under the bus if it makes them look smarter to their classmates or instructors. They forget that whether you graduate with a 4.0 or barely pass, we all get the same degree, and as long as you pass the boards, we can all get the same jobs (for the most part). I value my education, but I hated school and would never want to go back.

Phathead said...

I'm actually right at the median age of the class, so it can't be that.

Anonymous said...

man what pharmacy school do you go to? most of the kids at my school (and i say kids because a lot of them are 20 or so) are try hards who actually know quite a lot. i am reluctantly impressed.