I'm currently taking Pharm as part of an ADN program at my local community college. I also took Pharm from another community college with a highly respected veteran instructor. It's fun to compare and contrast the two because one is highly respected by thousands, and the other is often perceived as a kook.
The kookie one admits that she hasn't taught Pharm before. She's been doing a really bad job of teaching the material. She creates PowerPoint talking points from the textbook, and reads from the book.
We recently studied pharmaceutics, pharmakokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Instead of administering a well written 10 question NCLEX objectively gradeable quiz, she chose to have the students answer the following:
Scenario: You are making a home visit to a client. The discharge prescriptions are the following:
Medication- A: Take 20 mg twice daily for two more days and then once a day for four days on an empty stomach.
Medication-B: Take 500 mg three times a day with meals.
The client says to you, "This is too complicated for me! Can I take 20 mg of Medication-A once a day for eight days? After all, I'll be taking the same amount of drug. And, can I take A and B at the same times? I'll never remember to take them if I have to take one before I eat and the other after."
explain to the client why the medications should be taken as prescribed.
With the number of pharm questions on the NCLEX, I can't imagine how the other students are going to be able to pass the NCLEX if our knowledge continues to tested by these types of questions. :chuckle Sure, who cares about understanding about excipients or disintegration or dissolution. Let's have a long-winded essay about following directions... If you don't know the subject and you can't test it, then FAKE IT!
If you don't know the subject and you can't test it, then FAKE IT!