Any tips for getting through Med/Surg, Pharm, and Mental

I just graduated nursing school in December. The best way I know to study pharmacology is to study it along side whatever topic it is you're learning about in school. So for example, if I was in my psych section, I wouldn't just randomly study all the psych drugs. Instead, I'd focus on the depression medications when we were talking about depression, antipsychotics when discussing schizophrenia, etc.For me, studying like that helped reinforce the content for both subjects.

Just out of curiosity what books are you using for school?

Study, study, study. The reading for this semester will probably be very heavy so stay on top of it. I agree with the other poster regarding studying the pharm with the disease process you are learning about. It seems less overwhelming. I never found good flash cards for pharm so I made my own. It was time consuming but writing it on the flash cards also helped me learn it.

Just finished Pharm, MS, & Mental.....

Seems with pharm.... Biggest focus was on contraindications and side effects. Also did alot on herbal meds.

MS & Mental.... Test questions were all NCLEX type Qs even the SATA.......

Good luck

Well I had those classes broken up, I had pharm last spring with Med surg 1 and 2, then psych in the summer, and med surg 3 and 4 this fall......my class was the last to go thru the program with that set up, and I believe that is a good thing....I would like the others stated study the pharm according to what you are covering. I guess it really just depends on how your program is set up...pharm was in one 3 credit course when I had it, and unfortunately not all areas where covered while they were covered in pharm...However the future classes will have a 1 credit pharm class to go along with med surg broke up into 3 semesters....I would recommend mosby's flash cards for pharm, they came in handy and I still refer to them today...As for psych, I can't really recommend a lot of additional books because I am a double major in psych and nursing, so I didn't really need to refer to much..I think that as long as you get a thourogh understanding of the medications used, then you will understand the disorders better.....Good luck to you next semester......