Alex
Don't you think it would be better to start out as an industrial, hospital or retail pharmacist at the start of your degree? The Mass spec stuff is useful if you work in industry, and need to understand analytical techniques, but useless for retail.
I remember answering questions in my exams that started out as " a doctor asks you to describe the pharmacology and uses of ACE inhibitors". This does simply not happen. If you work in a hospital Dr's will ask you things like "which is the best ACE inhibitor. in an elderly patient with renal malfunction" or you might add on a ward round something like "paroxetine is dually excreted, so it might be a better choice then fluoxetine for this elderly patient" etc. In retail all I need to tell people is watch out for dizzyness when you first start taking it, and these drugs can sometimes give you a dry cough!
This can be useful information though. When I worked in a hospital, a patient came in because the chain of events were: -
1. He was prescribed an ACE inhibitor for hypertension
2. This gave him a dry tickly cough (a common side effect)
3. The GP gave him amoxicillin for the cough
4. The amoxicillin gave him terrible vomiting and diarrhoea
5. He became very dehydrated
6. He ended up in hospital on a drip!
Good hey!
