Getting ahead or where do most people fail

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 17, 2006

From this I have reached a conclusion.
Since 'most' meds are designed to interact with the endocrine system complete knowledge of this system would be the pre req for learning pharmocology.
Is this assumption correct?

No, I do not think this is true. Most drugs are not designed to interact with the endocrine system. In fact, with all of the different drugs on the market in the U.S. alone, I do not know how you came to this conclusion. However, knowledge of the endocrine system which you may have learned in A&P II is most helpful as is ANY information learned in A&P (I am told).

This a good post. I too am looking for good Pharm books and resources to supplement my learning in nursing school.

Huscarl73 · Dec 17, 2006

Ok, I might have reached the wrong conclusion. Let me rephrase.

If the above is true, and pharmocology is where most problems are does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about preparing for the course?

CuriousMe · Dec 17, 2006

You might want to post this in the Nursing Students forum. I know our pharmacology class is during our nursing program.....not a prerequisite.

I'm not in the program yet, I'm applying this winter. But I've seen people falter already. I don't know if you could pinpoint one main reason folks don't meet their goal of being a nurse.....it's more complicated than that.

Peace,

Cathie

Jules A, MSN · Dec 17, 2006

From my experience you are sort of on the right track but it was doseage issues rather than the actual pharm stuff that resulted in most of the students problems that didn't make it in my class. In that case there just isn't any substitute for knowing how to do the math.

For pharmocology it would be my opinion that its largely memorization and what I found at clinicals is that the same floors seem to "like" the same drugs so you will see quite a bit of overlap which is helpful. Keep in mind that the med books are updated quite often as the meds in favor this year might not be next year. Good luck. Jules

NurseMMM · Dec 17, 2006

Before I took my NCLEX, I took a medication preparation review course. It helped my confidence. I went in a without fear and came out knowing I aced it.

Huscarl73 · Dec 17, 2006

From my experience you are sort of on the right track but it was doseage issues rather than the actual pharm stuff that resulted in most of the students problems that didn't make it in my class. In that case there just isn't any substitute for knowing how to do the math.

I agree, the number of people in my algebra class that really need remedial grade school math was astounding.

:smackingf

For pharmocology it would be my opinion that its largely memorization and what I found at clinicals is that the same floors seem to "like" the same drugs so you will see quite a bit of overlap which is helpful. Keep in mind that the med books are updated quite often as the meds in favor this year might not be next year. Good luck. Jules

Well, that kinda leads into my previous assumption. Blind memorization of the uses for a thousand different drugs? Seems to me that would be an inefficient way to approach the problem which maybe needs to be redefined.

From what I have read on here about the NCLEX the problem most encounter is that they've never seen or don't remember what that particular drug does. It would make sense to me that if I know how the body raises its blood pressure to begin with then it would be easier to figure out that a certain classification of drug would lower that pressure. I know that' a bit simplistic but I'm still in AP and still figuring out the questions let alone the answers.

I'm not married to this idea if it is incorrect I'll move along I'm just trying to stack the odds in my favor.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2006

Perhaps this is referring to the fact that systemic regulation is neurological and/or endocrine in nature. All other factors are 'local' so to speak.

From what I've read on this board though, I wouldn't pick pharm as one of the primary trouble spots for nursing students.

Jules A, MSN · Dec 17, 2006

Are you thinking about this for being successful in nursing school or for passing NCLEX? I answered previously thinking it was school you were concerned about. If its NCLEX, give yourself a break as you will have much more to worry about before you get there, lol.

Seriously though, I don't think I had more than 3 med questions on my NCLEX and frankly if I didn't get any of them correct, oh well, in the big picture it obviously didn't matter. As I recall the few I did get were pretty easy to figure out the class based on the name so that helps answer.

Now this is just my opinion and I've only taken the LPN boards but I didn't think it was all that hard. I tend to test pretty good (or guess good as one friend likes to say) and I know there are people that have problems passing so I'm not trying to make light of that, just that for me it wasn't really something I worried about. I did study of course but ended up feeling pretty confident when I walked out of the testing center.

Take care, Jules

Huscarl73 · Dec 17, 2006

To me it's pretty much the same question. I think the problem is I'm new to the forums and I've been reading alot of the threads from to start to finish. So I might have a different perspective on what problems people are having than someone who has not done so recently. I see a direct link between people that are saying I'm failing or have failed nursing school because I don't understand the test questions, and people that are saying the same about the NCLEX.

I still have APII to do this coming semester before starting in nursing school but I've had college level AP before so it's more of a refresher course than something I'm learning from scratch. Luckily from what I've heard from current students that I know our local CC admissions is based upon local residency first down to a certain GPA then goes to outside applicants. With the GPA's they say they had I should be good to go.

From what I also hear the failure rate in the program is probably fairly close to average and I don't to join that statistic. So given a choice I would prefer to have a solid grounding in the basics before I even meet the teachers.

stpauligirl · Dec 18, 2006

To me it's pretty much the same question. I think the problem is I'm new to the forums and I've been reading alot of the threads from to start to finish. So I might have a different perspective on what problems people are having than someone who has not done so recently. I see a direct link between people that are saying I'm failing or have failed nursing school because I don't understand the test questions, and people that are saying the same about the NCLEX.
I still have APII to do this coming semester before starting in nursing school but I've had college level AP before so it's more of a refresher course than something I'm learning from scratch. Luckily from what I've heard from current students that I know our local CC admissions is based upon local residency first down to a certain GPA then goes to outside applicants. With the GPA's they say they had I should be good to go.
From what I also hear the failure rate in the program is probably fairly close to average and I don't to join that statistic. So given a choice I would prefer to have a solid grounding in the basics before I even meet the teachers.

It is my understanding that your success in nursing school and passing the NCLEX is based upon the quality of the prerequisite classes. People who go shopping for easy A's with easy teachers get in trouble at our program. A strong, solid background in A&P and Microbiology/Pathology are essential. Pharmacology is also part of our nursing school curriculum and not a prerequisite. I learned that dosage calculation is what gives most people trouble. The class needs to be passed with an 80 average which adds to the difficulty. However, once I am accepted into our nursing school I may enroll in "Medical Pharmacology" which is a class that will assist in doing well in Pharm. Something similar may be available at your school, too.

Don't worry, only sign up for high quality teachers who will actually teach you what you need to survive nursing school. Good luck and Happy New Year

Jules A, MSN · Dec 18, 2006

To me it's pretty much the same question. I see a direct link between people that are saying I'm failing or have failed nursing school because I don't understand the test questions, and people that are saying the same about the NCLEX.

I thought getting through the politics of school were way harder and totally separate from passing the NCLEX. I've also read a lot of posts here especially when I was studying for my boards and I didn't get the feeling that a majority of people were having trouble either in school or passing the boards. You could always pick up a NCLEX review book from the library if you are concerned about the type of questions.

Again, we lost about 20% of our class mostly from not passing our dosage tests with 95% or higher. Bottom line is that we had a great NCLEX passing rate and frankly none of us were rocket scientists.