Well, April is in full swing in the mid and deep south. There has been a strange, solid yellow wind over the lovely bluff city of Memphis the past few weeks. With this inspiration, and being an allergy/asthma sufferer myself, I decided to try out the COPD and Asthma review module this month. I have definitely seen an increase of cases of COPD exacerbations in our Emergency Department as of late. Time for a refresher.
The module consisted of 4 fairly recently published articles from NEJM, Respiratory Research (a new journal to me), and, my all time favorite, the Lancet. The articles themselves were of a manageable length to review when you have an hour or so to take a look at them for a little light, in-depth, reading. The topics themselves, 2 of which pertained to IV/nebulized magnesium sulfate for acute asthma exacerbations, are quite relevant to some budding topics in clincal treatment today. I have recently overheard our residents and clinical specialists discussing these topics, so the module is spot on with choosing the most current literature for review. Practicing in an emergency department, we definitely use a combination of inpatient, ambulatory, and community knowledge to assist our teams in their every need. You must become a "jack of all trades" as it were. Having been out of the community setting for almost 2 years, and only one ambulatory care rotation as a student that focused on diabetes and anticoagulation, I greatly appreciate this mix of topics.
However, time to utter those dreaded words of every pharmacy student and resident around the country, JOURNAL CLUB! I decided to try my hand at the review quiz for the module. The questions had me having flashbacks to school and post-journal club presentation Q&A with our professors. Some are very clearly worded while others, as always, had me scratching my head trying to interpret them. But that is to be expected. Now, when it comes to studying and test taking, I have always been a pencil and paper girl myself, but modules are online, as well as the review quiz. The interface itself is simple enough to navigate but can be daunting. While trying to access on a couple of different computers, the site kept freezing and crashing. Definitely not helpful once you are getting into the flow of test taking. But we will see what the rest of the modules will bring.
In May, I hope to switch gears and try my hand at the pharmacogenomics lecture module we have access to. Stay tuned...
Until next time!
Meredith