April Recap 2023
For anyone who may have missed some of our April articles, below you'll find a quick summary with key takeaways from each post!
We are back with another monthly post for our paid subscribers. In this post, we also share several fun things that are more personal, interesting, and meant to create a closer community around RxTeach. We hope you enjoy it! If you're only interested in our free content, that's great! We will never put up a paywall for all of our posts. With that in mind, if you want to help fund some exciting research efforts, this is your chance! All profits will be donated to help fund efforts in Alzheimer's and cancer research. We're excited about this chance to contribute to some of the research efforts that we care about most and we genuinely hope you consider contributing! More paid subscriber content will be coming out for those that are particularly interested, and we'll still be covering our standard topics as well.
April showers bring the bloom,
A time of growth and renewal,
As the raindrops kiss the earth,
And bring forth life's potential.
At RxTeach, we explore the wonders,
Of science and its many forms,
And just like April's showers,
We uncover knowledge that transforms.
Through the lens of scientific thought,
We study the world around,
And like the seeds that sprout,
Our minds expand and abound.
With each new discovery,
We marvel at nature's grace,
And like the petals of a flower,
Our knowledge begins to trace.
So let us welcome the April showers,
And the scientific knowledge they bring,
For at RxTeach we embrace the power,
Of discovery and learning.
In the midst of rain and thunder,
We find beauty and wisdom to share,
And as we explore the world's wonder,
We grow and thrive, beyond compare.
RxTeach, let's celebrate the rain,
And the knowledge that it brings,
For in every April shower,
We find new growth, and amazing things.
-ChatGPT
Article Recaps
The Importance of Having an Internship During Pharmacy School
- There are a ton of pros to having an internship including discovering what in pharmacy you enjoy most, additional income, flexibility in scheduling, development of core competencies, and networking!
- As for cons, there is only one that is common in all types of internships, and that is time.
- Research shows that students who have an internship are 15% less likely to be unemployed and earn 6% more than students who did not.
- Ultimately, students who do not complete an internship will be forced to find creative ways to explain why they chose not to go down that path and provide examples of how they have built experiences without it!
HIV Clinic Pharmacist: A Day in the Life
- Pharmacists are needed in many aspects of patient care, especially in vulnerable populations such as patients with HIV.
- Care areas that pharmacists play a crucial role in: drug interactions, drug dosing, developing or switching patient medication regimens, insurance approvals, patient education, drug information questions, cost-saving initiatives, pharmacokinetics, and more!
- To best prepare for a career in HIV care, network, network, network! There are great resources available (and in the full post) to help guide you.
- A helpful tip for every day pharmacists to know about HIV: do not default to an HIV diagnosis if you see a medication used to treat HIV on a patient profile. Some of these medications can be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or Hepatitis B.
Near Death Experiences and DMT
- A near-death experience can be a frightening wake-up call that often induces spirituality and allows hibernated thoughts to transcend the subconscious to the conscious mind.
- NDEs can cause the infamous white light, a warm sensation, an out-of-body experience such as levitation, a hand reaching out to you, or being met with a familiar someone like relatives, friends, or religious figures.
- This can be caused by cerebral hypoxia or anoxia (low or no oxygen), hypercapnia (high CO2), drug-induced from resuscitation procedures (ketamine), or chemically mediated neurobiological factors like endorphins and enkephalins.
- DMT production is proposed to be most notably increased at two specific points in life: birth and death. Both entering life and leaving it are major transitional periods, and the endogenous (within the body) production of DMT may be indicative of a neuroprotective mechanism that eases the individual through those transitions.
- The New England Journal of Medicine published the CLEAR Outcomes trial in early March 2023. This post breaks down the CLEAR Outcomes trial and what change it may bring to our clinical practice.
- Purpose: To determine the effects of bempedoic acid on adverse cardiovascular events (ACE) in patients for whom prevention is clinically indicated but who were unable or unwilling to take guideline-recommended doses of statins (HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors).
- Conclusion: "...treatment with bempedoic acid during a median follow-up of 40.6 months significantly lowered the risk of MACE (death from CV causes, nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization)."
- Extra credit question answered at the end of the post: What is the downside of a composite outcome?
Things we're thinking about, consuming, or find interesting:
- YouTube video of the month: Despite my terrible cooking skills, I absolutely love watching food-related YouTube content, and one of my favorite creators is Brad Leone who is a chef that was previously associated with Bon Appétit. Pair him up with the insanity of Matty Matheson and you have something special on your hands. Please enjoy this fantastic video featuring the culinary duo noodling for catfish in Oklahoma. You won't regret it.
- Quote of the month: "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young … And I seem to have forgotten, lately ..." - Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This quote is top of mind as I enter fatherhood! I'm not "old" yet, but I'm on my way, and this quote may very well help with the patience and understanding required to be a good dad.
- Fitness goals/updates: Back to more running!! I just can't help myself with this weather. Maybe I'll see if Kristen will coach me for a marathon in September, but my legs hurt just thinking about it. She scares me.