APPS meeting 9-23
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4 meetings and 2 events are required. If you can’t attend the meetings, 4 events are required.
Tour of Scripps Research institute: 10/9. Send an email to apps.sdsu@gmail.com if you can
drive other people or if you need a ride.
9/29 AIDS walk
10/5 PPHA mixer
10/8 UCSF Admission Presentation: Social media center located in the basement of the library,
room 163 Tour is from 3-5
10/20 Breast cancer walk
10/24 bowling night
11/8 Rady’s children hospital tour (event)
11/7 Kindergarten volunteer (12-15 volunteers)
11/22 Feeding America (15 volunteers)
12/3 Calpulli center tour (event)
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Apps mentor program
o Bi-weekly meeting
o Similar to being a counselor
 Pre- heath mixer North jetty, where the basketball court and volley ball court.
 Fundraisers:
o Bracelets 1$ each from Cambodia
o APPS T shirts- 15$
o Panda Express
Dr. Graft
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From NY, went to Columbia University (no longer a pharmacy school)
Taught at SDSU in the school of Public Health.
Taught HS Chemistry for 11 years.
Retired from SDSU and then became a regional pharmacy supervisor for the price club
Mentors students here and at UCSD
If anyone has any questions, you can meet with him at the Starbucks in Solana beach.
Pharmacists don’t count pills! Pharmacists do not sell anything!
When he started out as a pharmacist, it was illegal for anyone besides a doctor to take
blood pressure.
A bill is underway (if the governor signs it) for pharmacists to prescribe birth control
without a prescription from a doctor. The field of pharmacy is growing; pharmacists can do
so many more things than in the past.
Pharmacists learn new things every day. It is a great profession to retire with comfortably.
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In community pharmacy you must have an interesting personality: Pharmacists today work
with non-pharmacist managers (not how it used to be!). People today want what they want
when they want it, so, pharmacists must have tough skin to withstand pushy nonpharmacists bosses and demanding customers. There is a lot of pressure being a
pharmacist.
In a hospital setting, doctors and nurse practitioners are pushy and often think that they
know more about drugs than you do. Ex: he was filling a prescription that he noticed a
prescription was way too high of a dose, he called the doctor and consulted with the
patient
How many mistakes occur? 1/10 prescriptions are wrong. Therefore, pharmacists have a
1/10 opportunity to save a life. Pharmacists play a very important role in health care.
Nurses only take one class (one semester) in pharmacology. Why is that? Even nurses
hardly know anything about drugs
Nurse: “You don’t have to counsel me, I’m a nurse!” pharmacist: “Ok I’ll talk slowly”.
It is important when drugs are taken (morning or night) because it depends when the drug
needs to be active
It is important that some drugs are not taken with alcohol. Since the alcohol will have
adverse effects and make the patients very sick.
Pharmacist make sure that drugs must be taken carefully and effectively
When you talk to a patient, speak slowly, carefully and in very simple terms. Pharmacist
must make sure that patients understand thoroughly.
Probiotics: only piss your money away! Probiotics are not FDA approved and therefore,
there is no promise that they work. If there are any bacterial cultures in these probiotics,
they are most likely dead and ineffective by the time the patient takes them.
What’s Airborne: Vitamin C and Zinc. These are Vitamins and should not be placed in the
cold section.
In hospital settings, pharmacists do not often have much patient interaction. There is a
more patient interaction in community pharmacies.
What is long term care: You go to nursing homes, examine the patients’ records and make
sure that the doctors and nurses aren’t killing them. They visit once a month and notice
that drugs are being prescribed and given to the patients at the wrong time. Pharmacists
may notice that doctors are giving high doses of Tylenol to patients with a bad liver, which
can cause liver failure. Patients are also over-prescribed by doctors. A pharmacist may
notice that they are on drugs that they don’t need. The law requires that every nursing
home must have a consulting pharmacist but this is not always the case. The law in
California says that the pharmacist who is consulting should also provide the drugs.
Although, it would be a much better idea to have an independent consulting pharmacist.
Every week, there may be 200 written prescriptions that are not taken home because the
pharmacist notices that the patient does not need the drugs. Example: Doctors may
prescribe antibiotics for a cold or the flu that is absolutely unnecessary. For patients that
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do take these antibiotics and do not need them only contribute to an organism building
strength and immunity to the drug. Ex. Penicilinase producing gonorrhea
Nuclear pharmacist: prepares radioactive substances that are used during surgery. These
pharmacist work at night
Pharmaceutical Spokesman: work for drug companies and talk about drugs that sales
representatives sell
Pharmacy radio: talk on the radio about drugs
Pharmacy teachers: flexible hours
There are so many opportunities in pharmacy!!
It is a great profession to have a family and always have a job
Dr. Graft recommends traveling outside California to work as a pharmacist.
New Yorkers have a different work ethic than people in California. There is a different work
ethic in different parts of the US
There are so many opportunities in New York!
The last chance doctrine (waiting for the governors consent) - Pharmacist have the last
chance to change the doctor’s prescription and potentially save the patients life
Dr. Graf is more than happy to answer any questions! Email him or even set up a meeting!
Gerry Graf
1212 Spar Court
Carlsbad, CA 920111-2500
760-918-9303
Cell: 619-857-9304
gerrygraf@sbcglobal.net