Questions from a new guy

[Guest guest]

Jeanetta said I could go ahead and post this to the group. Anyone else have

advice for a newbie?

Hi Jeanetta,

I'm sending this to you directly since I don't think it will contribute anything

to the group. First let me say that you run a wonderful site. There's an

unbelieveable amount of help, feedback and information within the PT world

thanks to you. I'm coming a little out of left field though so I'll throw some

of my background at you first. ; )

My name is Terry Stiefel, I'm 39 years old and I'm currently in the Air Force.

I've been in for 22 years and am stationed at AFB in southern Illinois.

It's about 20 miles east of St. Louis on interstate 64. I've worked in

electronics for my whole career and don't have any pharmacy experience. I've

discovered as I've gotten older that everything interests me. I'm like a sponge

and want to absorb information about all subjects! This is contrary from high

school when I was pretty much a rock. : ) I've taken various college classes

throughout my career to include General Chemistry I with lab, Organic and

Biochemistry I with lab and Pharmacology and Nursing Management. I have really

good intuitive math skills and love chemistry. Anyway, I'm planning to attend

St. Louis College of Pharmacy (STLCOP) starting in the fall of 2005. I'll start

as a third year transfer student after completing the first two years of

prerequisites here at Southwestern Illinois College. STLCOP is different than

most pharmacy schools in that they recruit primarily high school students and

provide the whole six year curriculum. Only a small percentage come in as third

year transfers. I'd like to start in the fall of 2004 except I can't quite

finish everything before the application deadline. Tough to take classes and

work full time. I'd guess you've probably experienced the same thing too. O.K.,

enough history...

I'd like to start getting some hands-on pharmacy experience as soon as I can

during the evening or weekends. I'll volunteer if necessary. I'd like to take

the Pharmacy Tech Exam too but don't know how soon I should plan to try. I think

my biggest weaknesses are knowing all of the different medications and general

pharmacy practices like the syringe/sharps discussion. Can you or some of the

other folks give me any advice? Is it possible/likely that I can work/volunteer

in a pharmacy without passing the exam first? Heck, are there any questions I

should be asking that I haven't even thought of yet? All I can say for certain

is that chemistry, pharmacy, medicine and working with my community appeal to

me. After all, I'm the last year of the baby boomers and I want to help my

generation as we pass into middle and old age! LOL

Thanks so much!

Terry

P.S. The sharps discussion interests me. My two year old son was diagnosed with

Type I diabetes last year. Right now I just stick the end of the needle back in

the cap, bend it, spin it around until it breaks from the syringe and push the

cap on until it clicks. Then the whole thing goes in the trash. Should I be

doing things differently?