Advanced Pharmacology

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Dec 27, 2016

I found my advanced pharm class to be very difficult compared to my advanced patho class. I suggest forming a study group with no more than maybe 4-5 students, and make sure they are committed to actually studying the material. Study groups can be a hindrance if you have people who just want to chatter the entire time. I had a friend that I would study with one-on-one and we would read through the notes out loud then quiz each other on the material. It really helped me. I spent a countless number of hours of Starbucks doing this but I was forever grateful because I ended up with an A in the class. Good luck!

TammyG · Dec 29, 2016

I found that advanced patho was much more difficult than advanced pharm. The advanced patho seemed to require more in-depth understanding of its concepts, which also required more in-depth understanding of background knowledge and concepts (anatomy, chemistry and the like). Pharm just seems to lend itself more to rote memorization.

But, I think that everyone will give you a different answer based on their preferred learning needs and their own personal experience!

The best way to prepare for advanced pharm is to be up on your basic pharm. I had about 4 years in between the two classes and so had to re-learn a lot of the basic stuff during advanced pharm. But if you have less time in between or time to study basic pharm before the class, that would probably make it easier.

Best of luck to you!

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Jan 4, 2017

I think in my experience, patho was harder than pharmacology

Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Jan 5, 2017

I used a lot of video lectures on YouTube. There are some really excellent ones on there, particularly from MedCram which are aimed at medical students. They really help you understand the mechanisms and are illustrated really well. If you search a specific drug class you'll find tons of videos that are really helpful in helping you understand the important points.