Pharmacology before Nursing school?

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Hey pre nursing, nursing students and RN's out there!

Question:

Will it be more difficult to understand and pass pharmacology if I took it before nursing school?

I want to lower the load of nursing school and thinking of taking it before.

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If you have taken physiology and pathophysiology, then I think you should be fine taking it early. I would say you need at least those two classes though, because you need to understand the disease processes and how the body responds to them before you can understand how these medications work.

I would also become familiar with some of the more basic lab values. Electrolytes, CBC, LFT, BUN/Cr, Glucose & HbA1c, and Hgb & Hct. What are they, what range should each be in, what happens if they're too high/too low, and how do you fix an imbalance? A lot of medications affect these lab values, and you're going to have to know them for nursing school anyway, so may as well learn the basics now.

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I'm currently taking pharmacology as a pre-nursing student and am doing really well so it's definitely doable. Although, the previous poster is right in saying that taking physio first is a good idea. Good luck!

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Thank you both for the advice... I'm planning to take pharmacology last, right before applying to nursing school :)

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I would also like to take Pharm after Physio but before nursing school to lessen the load... I am in the state of California... does any one have any advice on where I can take Pharm and have it be transferable to a City Collage or Cal State BEFORE entering into a nursing program? 

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