Hawkeyes Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Hello all, I wanted to gain insight on how much chemistry is taught in PA school and if you felt prepared for the content. I ask because I struggled a bit in chemistry(2 C's) with certain topics, mainly the math portions, but I have received A's in physiology/pathophysiology, cardiovascular phys/pharmacology etc. I feel like I really understand chemical concepts in physiology, however, chemistry still scares me lol. I will be taking biochemistry in the spring and I know it is part of the PA school curriculum so if anyone has any insight on this topic I would love to hear it. Thanks, Hawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FfIghter23 Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Hello all, I wanted to gain insight on how much chemistry is taught in PA school and if you felt prepared for the content. I ask because I struggled a bit in chemistry(2 C's) with certain topics, mainly the math portions, but I have received A's in physiology/pathophysiology, cardiovascular phys/pharmacology etc. I feel like I really understand chemical concepts in physiology, however, chemistry still scares me lol. I will be taking biochemistry in the spring and I know it is part of the PA school curriculum so if anyone has any insight on this topic I would love to hear it. Thanks, Hawk Little to none. Biochemistry has a few topics that you will need to pay attention to when it comes to genetics and things like the Bohr effect and the oxygen-hemoglobin disassociation curve. Other than that... Pass the class and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeyes Posted August 21, 2015 Author Share Posted August 21, 2015 Thank you for the response Ffighter, that puts my mind at ease a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson2018pac Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 I agree with the other poster, I am about to start 3rd semester didactic and haven't seen a whole lot of chemistry related material. I understand why they require it as it is foundational knowledge but the math type stuff, formulas, etc have yet to be seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FB123 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Agreed. On my way to 4th quarter and the only time they reference chemistry in lectures is as a study aide I agree with the other poster, I am about to start 3rd semester didactic and haven't seen a whole lot of chemistry related material. I understand why they require it as it is foundational knowledge but the math type stuff, formulas, etc have yet to be seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeyes Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 What about math? The highest level i've taken is statistics, during pharmacology I was able to do fine during pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics, is that as intense as the math gets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson2018pac Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I have had research classes where Ive had to do statistics such as determining relative risk, risk ratio, ppv and npv, etc...so stats is pretty necessary...I'm by no means that great at math, I took stats and college algebra as my only math classes prior to PA school and I haven't had any issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torshi Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 @Hawkeyes Biochem: actually isn't part of the didactic of PA school, it is however, for Med school. There is absolutely no chem-related question for anything in PA school. Maybe some small info related to the patho of some condition - No need to worry at all about chem. Most of all questions are going to be clinically relevant or big picture kinda thing Math: needed for Pharm that's all - for prescription writing. It's elementary arithmetic (ratios etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktheshark89 Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Biochem may be a part of some curricula (we had a short molecular physiology series that was essentially basic biochemistry) but my guess is that there are few if any programs that include nearly as many hours as medical students receive, or even undergraduate students in an upper level course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dndandrea Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I've only been in PA school for 1 week and chemistry has already popped up several times in our pharmacology class. Nothing like my organic chemistry classes though. Pretty basic stuff you could re-learn if you forgot. Like last lecture we talked about how the pH and pKa affect how a drug is ionized or unionized in the stomach, which will ultimately tell you a little bit about how much of it is absorbed by the body or not. It's basically the henderson-hasselbalch equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 30, 2015 Moderator Share Posted August 30, 2015 you won't see any chemistry or biochem on pance, panre, or the CAQs (at least the em caq). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 you won't see any chemistry or biochem on pance, panre, or the CAQs (at least the em caq). WHEW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly_Diana Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I think it depends on your program. Our program has an ISBM class (integrated sciences basic to medicine) which is somewhat a mixture of biochemistry and physiology. Nothing like Ochem so far, but definitely need a background of chemistry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfall Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 I probably used 2% of what I learned in gen chem/ochem college. Mainly knowing general concepts of HCl, bicarbonate, Na/water, O2, CO2, pH, lipids. Relates back to mechanisms of medications and maintaining that homeostasis of the human body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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