Is there anything I can do before the semester starts to get a jump start on Pharmcology? Everything I've heard so far is that it is very difficult. I was thinking I'd go ahead and start trying to learn it a little at a time but didn't know if there was a good place to start or a particular way to go about it. Any ideas? Will I just confuse myself more by doing this? I just hate to have all this extra time this semester and not use it to make Pharm easier on myself later.

Pharm isn't THAT bad... it is just a lot of memorization. I wouldn't review any pharm before the class starts, but I would review your physiology. Understanding how a drug effects the body requires an understanding of how the body works, thus I think it would be beneficial to brush up on your physiology knowledge.

I agree with the above post. I'm in my 2nd week of an accelerated ASN program. I bought a pharmacology study guide months ago, looked through it and didn't really get it because I didn't know anything about the drugs. We just had our first exam yesterday (got a 94, yea for me) and it wasn't as bad as I thought. It really is alot of memorization, but like stated above, if you don't have understand the groundwork then you won't get how the drugs work.

I would suggest that instead of pharmacology, work on dosage calculation problems. There are a number of books that you can get to give you the practice. Also, if you had taken your prereqs (i.e. A&P), if there were any areas that gave you difficulties...review it. When you start taking pathophysiology, you will need to know how the systems work right before you can understand the pathology tht you will be dealing with.

Kris