I Want a New Drug

I thought I'd be taking it on the chin again on my latest Pharm test this morning

However, this time around I secluded myself for the weekend (who am I kidding? All I do is study these days), forsaking the SuperBowl (well, the 1st half anyways) and immersed myself in the world of Autonomic Nervous System drugs. The section on Diabetic agents and Anticoagulants was fairly straightforward, but the ANS material was fairly complex and voluminous -- not only knowing what the effects were, we had to know if it was a full or partial agonist, which receptors it worked on, whether it was direct or indirect, selective or nonselective, side effects, indications/contraindications, etc. I won't bore you all with any more of the details; needless to say, I was fairly nervous about the test but the studying paid off as I surprised even myself by how well I did.




What else have we been doing in school lately? Well, we started a 2 week suture lab that has been a blast so far. We are working on fake skin that looks quite similar to this:



So for we've just done the simple interrupted and uninterrupted stitches. This week we'll be working on the horizontal/vertical mattress stitches for deeper type of lacerations. And then we'll be doing skin punch biopsies on pig's feet. I'm having a lot of fun with this and they sent us home with a knot board to practice our square knots. I kind of feel like I'm working on the Navy docks with all the knots I've been tying.



In Microbiology, we've moved on from leprosy to sexually transmitted organisms (always nice to see some of those manifestations in full detail on the jumbo projection screen right before lunch!) In Clin Med, we're about to have a test over the pulmonary unit: Asthma, TB, lung cancer, interstitial lung disease, etc. In Physiology, we finished with the endocrine unit and are moving on to reproductive and finally the GI unit. In Pharmacology, we're starting diuretics. In Clin Lab Med, we covered fluid and volume balance today, going over the standard IV compositions for replacing fluid and electrolytes. I'm starting to put together my Power Point presentation together for my Master's Class. Other than that, not much else new to report on. As you can imagine, I've kept busy.

I'll leave you with my favorite anti-methamphetamine ad (a sympathomimetic drug that we covered in our last Pharmacology unit on adrenergic/cholinergic drugs and the ruin of many a life)