Is there an easy way memorizing drug names?

Jeniferfm · May 18, 2013

Thank you, Esme. This is awesome :)

Sadala, ADN, RN · May 19, 2013

I do tend to categorize drugs and then divide the categories up from there. Also (this is kooky but...) if there's an interesting story about a drug, it helps me to remember the drug and that helps me remember the class, etc. Like... which famous person overdosed on it. Or... what lawsuits have there been. Ok. that part's probably not helpful for anyone else. It just works for me. (Dark humor, sorry)

So yeah. Classifications/Indications. And drug endings. Those are good methods.

Red35 · May 20, 2013

I'm taking Pharmacology now...I bought Mosby's drug flashcards (3rd edition) and it has helped a lot! They have cartoons and the drugs are divided into catergories...even when I'm not sure on a test...I remember the cartoons and it has saved me...

3 weeks ago...I had a 76.8% and now I have an 85% (we have a test every week)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 21, 2013

-ase = thrombolytic

-azepam = benzodiazepine

-azine = antiemetic; phenothiazide

-azole = proton pump inhibitor, antifungal

-barbital = barbiturate

-coxib = cox 2 enzyme blockers

-cep/-cef = anti-infectives

-caine = anesthetics

-cillin = penicillin

-cycline = antibiotic

-dipine = calcium channel blocker

-floxacin = antibiotic

-ipramine = tricyclic antidepressant

-ine = reverse transcriptase inhibitors, antihistamines

-kinase = thrombolytics

-lone, pred- = corticosteroid

-mab = monoclonal antibiotics

-micin = antibiotic, aminoglycoside

-navir = protease inhibitor

nitr-, -nitr- = nitrate/vasodilator

-olol = beta antagonist

-oxin = cardiac glycoside

-osin = alpha blocker

-parin = anticoagulant

-prazole = ppi’s

-phylline = bronchodilator

-pril = ace inhibitor

-statin = cholesterol lowering agent

-sartan = angiotensin ii blocker

-sone = glucocorticoid, corticosteroid

-stigmine = cholinergics

-terol = beta 2 agonist

-thiazide = diuretic

-tidine = antiulcer

-trophin = pituitary hormone

-vir = anti-viral, protease inhibitors

-zosin = alpha 1 antagonist

-zolam = benzo/sedative

-zine = antihistamine

nclex pharm tips.doc‎(124.5 kb, 91 views)

nclex math study guide.doc‎(84.0 kb, 52 views)

S. Hall, BSN, RN · May 21, 2013

Really good info here!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

BSNRN2014 · Aug 10, 2014

Thank you so much for posting the NCLEX tip sheets. I'm taking my NCLEX in a few weeks and this will come in handy :)

rxrunner · Mar 1, 2016

There are a few errors in there that I want to respectfully correct.my comments are in parenthesis.

-ase = thrombolytic (-ase means enzyme, while all thrombolytics end in -ase, that doesn't mean all drugs that end in -ase are thrombolytics, i.e. be careful running into a brand name like Flonase = nasal steroid and applying this rule, it's only for generics.

-azepam = benzodiazepine (also -azolam)

-azine = antiemetic; phenothiazide (it's phenothiazine, this is important because the endings of prochlorperazine and promethazine end in -azine, not -thiazide which is a class of diuretic.)

-azole = proton pump inhibitor, antifungal (no, this is a common misunderstanding, an azole is just a type of organic chemistry functional group, the PPI ending is -prazole, the anti fungal ending is -conazole)

-barbital = barbiturate (it's actually just "barb" for barbituric acid derivatives)

-coxib = cox 2 enzyme blockers

-cep/-cef = anti-infectives (these are prefixes, so the dash should be to the left, the prefix ceph- is archaic and no longer used, the cef- is the correct new stem for cephalosporin class antibiotics)

-caine = anesthetics (well, local anesthetics)

-cillin = penicillin

-cycline = antibiotic (tetracycline class antibiotics)

-dipine = calcium channel blocker (dihydropyridine CCBs like nifedipine and amlodipine which just vasodilator, the ending doesn't work for diltiazem and verapamil, the non-dihydropyridines)

-floxacin = antibiotic (fluoroquinolone antibiotics the -fl- is an infix indicating a fluorine atom and the -oxacin = quinolone antibiotic)

-ipramine = tricyclic antidepressant

-ine = reverse transcriptase inhibitors, antihistamines (absolutely do not use "-ine" as a short-cut or heuristic, 20% of all drugs end in "-ine" i.e. morphine, fluoxetine, chlorpromazine, an opioid, SSRI, and antipsychotic respectively. Use the entire stem, i.e. -atadine for loratadine (Claritin) or -tidine for (famotidine) and H2 blocker.

-kinase = thrombolytics

-lone, pred- = corticosteroid (pred is an official stem, -lone is not, be careful with that one.

-mab = monoclonal antibiotics

-micin = antibiotic, aminoglycoside (this is another misconception, the -micin just means that the antibacterial came from the Micromonospora strain if it was -mycin it would come from the Streptomyces strain. All -micin and -mycin really tell you is it might be an antibiotic, but bleomycin is an anti-cancer drug, so it really doesn't always work.

-navir = protease inhibitor

nitr-, -nitr- = nitrate/vasodilator

-olol = beta antagonist

-oxin = cardiac glycoside (careful with this one, better to just memorize digoxin/digitoxin)

-osin = alpha blocker (too short, it's -azosin as in terazosin, doxazosin)

-parin = anticoagulant (warfarin's an oral anticoagulant, heparin is a parenteral anticoagulant so careful with this)

-prazole = ppi's (PPIs)

-phylline = bronchodilator (methylxanthine)

-pril = ace inhibitor

-statin = cholesterol lowering agent (careful, nystatin is an anti fungal, better to go with -vastatin)

-sartan = angiotensin ii blocker (Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker ARB)

-sone = glucocorticoid, corticosteroid (not official, but usually works, also see just -son- as in budesonide)

-stigmine = cholinergics (an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, blocks breakdown of ACh to provide cholinergic effect)

-terol = beta 2 agonist

-thiazide = diuretic (like hydrochlorthiazide)

-tidine = antiulcer (H2 blocker)

-trophin = pituitary hormone (???)

-vir = anti-viral, protease inhibitors (vir is the parent stem for antivirals, others like navir are sub stems and that one means protease inhibitors)

-zosin = alpha 1 antagonist (-azosin)

-zolam = benzo/sedative (-azolam)

-zine = antihistamine (no, hydrazine is a vasodilator)

I think it's good to try to learn prefixes, infixes, suffixes, but make sure they come from the AMA Stem List or the WHO Stem Book. I wrote a book called Memorizing Pharmacology: A Relaxed Approach that tries to clear this confusion up.

rxrunner · Mar 22, 2016

I put up a 70 minute video with the Over the Counter meds that makes it easier to learn the RX ones. It might help for kinesthetic learners or for international students.