Episode 1 Dylans Part

Two friends reflect on their journey through pharmacy school and discuss their career aspirations. They reminisce about their decision to pursue pharmacy and how they ended up in their current program. They also talk about their rotations and the importance of learning in the real world. They discuss the equal importance of all healthcare team members and the potential growth and progression of pharmacy. They express excitement for future rotations and reflect on their friendship throughout their time in school. They also mention the challenges caused by COVID-19. You know, Austin, it feels so good that we've finally hit the pearly gates, almost done with pharmacy school in our sixth year now. The years came and went so fast, but God, let me tell you, it feels pretty good. How are you feeling about it? I know. Do you ever think of how we got here, though? I know for me, when I came and I was in the high school as a little kid back then, I was thinking like, oh, you know, like, I got to find a career, I got to figure out what I want to do, there's so much pressure on me. And I just remember like, looking, and I was like, okay, like, I know I want to do, I don't want to do healthcare, right? Like, I want to go I want to help people. And I was like, okay, you know, I'll be I'll become a doctor, right? And then I saw all the bodily fluids and I said, Okay, I'm not going to become a doctor. So I said, you know what, I still want to help patients, I still want to help people. So I said, okay, let's go play with some medicine, right? Probably not the best terminology or best way to think about it back then, but it worked. And that's how I found this program. It was called C-TECH. Back, back home, back in Middletown, and it's like a two year program in high school along with the curriculum. And they had, you know, they had a farm tech program, actually, which, looking back now is like eons ago, but the, the farm tech program is what where I got my start, you know, so I did that for two years, got my my certificate, you know, signed the dotted lines. And then in my in my senior year, I, you know, signed away to ACP. But yeah, like, what do you think, like, reflecting on it now? Yeah, I totally feel that and I really, really do. I think the the big thing for me with that was, you know, the other thing I didn't realize when we were younger, like, I didn't realize this was a doctorate program, like, I was under the assumption, like, okay, like, I want to be in school for, for 10 years, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I'll graduate when I'm in my 30s. But when I when I started doing my research, and that's actually part of the reason I ended up at ACP here. I was like, you know, six years, I can do that, you know, that's that's high school and a half. I've done it. I can do it again. But I, you know, I think I made the right decision to come to ACP because for me here, like when I was looking at the pharmacy schools and stuff like that, big thing for me was like the distance from home. It was, it was a small community that, you know, the graduating class was smaller than my graduating class from high school, which honestly was kind of nice because even though I knew a lot of people in high school, I feel like I truly know everybody that we're going to graduate with this year. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think about like all the stuff we've accomplished in the last five years and you know, it's, it's really weird to think about now that, you know, we're, we're, we're one step away from the real world. You know, we're, we're on rotation right now. I know your rotation, you said it was emergency care, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's more like give and take. Right. Cause I'm, I'm in the classroom right now. I'm working in the skills lab doing stuff like that. And even though it's, it's coming to an end this week, I still think it's bittersweet. Right. Because I, I've enjoyed my time, but part of me, you know, really loves that academic portion. Like being able to interact with students and being able to give back and kind of like make a difference. I'm sure that's how you felt in the emergency room too. And by the way, that was, that was your first rotation, right? Right. Back in A block. Okay. Okay. Okay. I hear that, man. I really do. It's almost like you're, you're stepping, you're going from being the big fish in a little pond to being a little fish in a big pond. You know what I mean? But I, uh, yeah, exactly. I think my biggest takeaway from this rotation so far, it wasn't even like the being in the able to give certain lectures or being able to interact with certain faculty and stuff like that. It was Mr. Flynn actually sat me down for a talk one day and we went through basically like what academia is because you hear all the time, like tenure versus non-tenure and everybody's like, Oh yeah, you have to go tenure track. You have to this way. You can't get fired. Right. And I'll be honest, before I had this conversation, that's, that's what I was under the impression of. Like if you don't get tenured, you're gone. But when he broke it down for me, I felt like we were on the same level. You know what I mean? Like he, he made it humanized where like, okay, this is the real world. This is the behind the scenes stuff that you're not learning in the classroom. But if you decide to pursue this at some given point down the line, here's the knowledge you need. So we sat there and we talked for, I got, I want to say like an hour. But I can't tell you, I've never taken better notes on a conversation than I did then there because I was so invested in what he had to say because he broke it down from top to bottom about, okay, tenured versus non-tenured. Okay. Well, what are the different types of professors? Is it a, is it a lecturer? Is it a associate professor? Is it an assistant professor? Are they the dean? Are they the president of the college? Stuff like that. So he was able to break that down for me. And like, in my head, that stuff never clicked. It was always just, okay, go through the classroom, go through the phases, get to sixth year, and then you're good. You'll coast. But I don't, I don't think that's what it's going to be now. And I'm, I'm happy it's not because you've done all this work to get to this point, right? Like you're in your final year. Why just coast? I think truly I will learn more this year while I'm on rotations than I've learned in all six of my years prior. What do you think? We're a quarter of the way, bro. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's truly refreshing to hear, man. The biggest worry I had when stepping into the real world, because you hear some horror stories, right, about, oh, you know, doctors don't respect pharmacists, they look down on them, stuff like that. Or other healthcare team members look at pharmacy as like the outcast. But I've learned that, and I've talked to a couple people about this too, that everybody's equal as long as everybody's willing to do their part. You know what I mean? It's like it's an equal shared responsibility. Because at the end of the day, it's not about us. It's about, okay, give this patient the best care that they can receive to make sure that when they go home or wherever they're going next, they're good to go. And I think that's something that, again, like you can't learn that in the classroom. Yes, we do our case studies and we do stuff like that. Exactly, bro. But... Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I completely agree. And just think about it this way, right? Even though we're the next generation of pharmacists that are coming in, only a couple years back pharmacists weren't able to give vaccines. There were so many more limitations to what they could do. And I also saw an article, I want to say about a week or two ago, where there's possibility where pharmacists will give prescribing power in the future. And listen, I'll take it, I'll leave it, whichever way it falls. But I'm interested to see the progression of pharmacy. You know what I mean? Dude, I was working on actually with Mr. Flynn the other day. He's got a history of pharmacy lecture to do for one of the courses. And he's showing me all this information that he has dating back hundreds of years, right? All the way back. And he's got this data that it's just unmatched. Like, did you know that Benedict Arnold was a pharmacist? It blew my mind too. But like, it's stuff like that. Like, it's history that is untouched and we're only growing farther. And I think that's something that I'm really excited to experience as we move forward. Especially due to rotations, you know? Exactly, man. But you know what? Speaking of the future, I truly am excited for my next rotation. So, you know how I mentioned that like CTEK program before? So part of this program was it actually allowed me to go to like different sites. So I went to like a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. I went to a pharmacy. It allowed me to go to like different sites. So I went to an independent pharmacy. I went to the local hospital at the time. I went to this psych center that I'm going to in less than a week. And we got to visit, talk with technicians, talk with pharmacists. And it was so interesting to pick their brains. But the thing that I saw when I was leaving the psych center when I was in high school, I saw the ACP logo, you know, like the O'Brien building in the front. And I saw that it said teaching site. And at the time, I was like, I have no idea what that means. But when we were going to pick our Abbeys this year, I saw that on the list. And I was like, I have to take this. Like it's basically my destiny to go back there at least for one more rodeo. But I'm really excited about that. And I find like all of the psychological and the different components I go into, like behavioral health and stuff like that. I think it's just everybody like looks past it in most cases. But these next six weeks, I'll be able to really hone in and focus on the healthcare of these individuals. Okay. Okay. That's the right way to think about it. That's the whole reason we get started. But you know what is really sad about rotations and this year in particular is that, I mean, you and me, man, we've been friends since what? Freshman year. So five years ago, looking back on it, like this will be the first time besides COVID, which in itself was a huge struggle. But beyond that, like this will be the first time that we're not, you know, around each other for an entire year, which is a little daunting to me. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Now you're coming up to Albany. Is it just the next six weeks or is it the six weeks after that too? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Oh, wow. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Exactly, man. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.