Pharmacology Shmarmacology!

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Hey all

Does anyone have advice on how to increase knowledge-base of pharmacology? I had lackluster Pharmacology courses in both my LPN and BSN programs and because of this, I score low in this area on every practice exam I take :no:. I am currently enrolled in Virtual ATI's "Pharmacology Made Easy 2.0" course but there is just SOOOO much information that it's hard for me to retain it all. I understand that there are just too many drugs to know them all, but I really would like to see myself score better in these sections before taking this NCLEX-RN beast. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has pharmacology study guides they used or any special mnemonics to help my poor-I-SUCK-at-pharmacology self? Thanks in advance.

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I agree. I am doing ATI NCLEX review as well. I don't know any tricks but I am going to focus on the biggies like Digoxin and touch on the not so common ones like Theophylline. It's a lot of information crammed into a short period of time. Sorry I'm not much help :blink: but good luck! :up:

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Thanks for the reply Pinupnurse76. I'm starting to think that's all we can really do- concentrate on the common meds and hope we don't end up with a bunch of randoms! Fingers crossed....Good luck to you too :)

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Yes! It is very nerve racking!!! How do you like the Virtual ATI? I am going through the Live review and I am not impressed.

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I've been working on getting my 'green light' to test from Virtual ATI for almost two months. I personally do not feel that it is a good prep for NCLEX because their test bank is too small. When you take an assessment after studying a certain module (example:pharm) and get below 60%, they have you study and retake the exact same test. Their assessments include rationales after answering each question and tells you which ones you get right or wrong. That is why taking the same assessment again is not helpful; you already took the test and already know the right answers. Some of the learning activities have been helpful, but overall, I don't think it's a good program. I'm glad that my school paid for it and not me or I'd be really ticked. Once I get my green light I'm planning on taking the plunge and paying the $300 for Kaplan qbank. If anything, it will help me to feel more confident before testing. I'm also currently using Saunders 6th edition for content and also doing questions from their website (there are tons). Everyone learns different though, so some may feel confident with just ATI. Good luck to you and I hope this was helpful!

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Hi I think ATI course is good but it's not for the people who graduated couple of years ago or want to take test early because they want you know everything if u want to spend more than 6 months I think you should take it other wise hurst is best less and enough information if you add kaplan strategy book with this..it will be super....

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

I did Kaplan, but I just focused on the common meds like lithium, heparin, tamoxifen, etc. I am NOT a pharm whiz, and there is just no way to know every single med. I literally had 2 or 3 pharm questions, including one calc, on my NCLEX. Some people get more, and of course, you never know what you'll get. But just know that there's isn't any guarantee that you'll get a bunch of pharm. Focus more on the techniques than anything else, because really, that's what matters.

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That's a good point- it is simply impossible to know which meds I will end up with on my test and it is also impossible to know them all. I'm going to focus more on the techniques and really hope for the best :)

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From a former student who took both ATI Pharm and NCLEX: ATI is much more difficult. Know the classes, but I wouldn't worry about the individual minutiae of each drug. You need to think big picture: why am I giving XYZ drug and what could happen to my patient? I had two pharm questions on NCLEX for which I'd never heard of the particular med (and I pride myself on knowing both generic and brand names, and indications for them) but the question gave the info needed to choose the correct answer, if that makes sense. Always ask "what could happen to this patient on this med, and what should I look for before, during, and after administration?"

That being said, ATI is great for learning more about medications, and I found it to be helpful for my own knowledge base.

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Yes I understand I just finish up on a live ATI review..it was great for me. I have always had a big problem on drugs because I didn't know where to learn how to learn them all. I failed the nclex-pn the first time. Now I am getting ready for the test in a month or so. I was told that they only give you one name with the pharm questions now since April 2014. What the live ATI review lady said to learn them by prefix or suffix of the big word to know captopril (capoten) which is "pril"..which is ace inhibitors . This will always be given because that is how you know what area of the body they are talking about...disease ..I hope this helps. I always called them the big words.

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