Hints on Pharmacology

NightOwl0624 · Aug 22, 2008

One thing - I thought this class was really hard (for me) and had to take it online. I thought the book we used was terrible - very unorganized and confusing. For the second half of the class, I picked up another book called Pharmacology for Nursing Care by Richard Lehne(I got the older edition on Half.com for

For me, once I understood the way a class of drugs work, it was much easier to do the rest. I found it very hard to memorize a bunch of drugs without understanding what they were supposed to be doing!

MB37 · Aug 22, 2008

We used Lehne at my school - I thought it was well written and even made pharm interesting. It's hard to explain how to learn pharm to someone who hasn't started the class yet, but basically I found that memorization is about the worst way to go - for me at least. Learn the classes. Learn WHY each class does what it does - what is a beta receptor? If you know that, then you know what both beta agonists and beta blockers do. As mentioned, what is ACE? Then what do ACE inhibitors do? The only area I really had to rely on memorization was the psych meds. We had to know every single drug and weren't given the class in the question, which made it a little tougher. Focus on roots of drug names - then, if you get a question with a drug you've never heard of, you can look at the name and recall other meds you have learned with a similar suffix. I also made flashcards for almost every unit, since it reinforced my knowledge. Plus, I could pull them back out for med-surg when we were again tested on all drugs relevant to whatever system we were covering.

thunter98 · Sep 29, 2008

Hi Amy,

Im in Pharm now and having a hard time, might have to drop it. Im not in the nursing program yet and I thought I would take it. I am also taking A & P 2 lecture and lab. I applied for the nursing program last week. I failed the first 2 test most likely not studying that well. Any Help would be appreciated. Did you say you have pharmacology notes. It would be a great help if I could have them. The 3rd test is next week and I have to get an 85. Feeling overwhelmed, but trying to hang in there.

thank you

Thunter98

life_student · Sep 30, 2008

Amy thanks for all those tips! I will definitely incorporate some of those techniques to the class I am taking right now.

I would be interested in the notes/study guides you might have available as well, I think it always helps to see the info from another perspective and perhaps grasp a little more of the material this way!

TIA!

Feels Like JD · Sep 30, 2008

Amy, it seems a bunch of people (myself included) could benefit from your study guides/notes. Think you post them here instead of having to sendout zillionz of messages to people in need? Thanks.

tmewashint · Feb 6, 2009

I am also interested in obtaining any study material that you may have available. My pharm course just began and I don't want to get to far behind. Right now I am putting everything together and it is making sense but some additional information is always helpful. Txs

Fermin Hernandez, ADN, ASN, RN · Feb 7, 2009

Whatever you do, don't forget the basics! I know a guy who forgot how many mg are in a grain on a conversion test...he failed the class...since so many questions need mg/grain conversions...

9livesRN, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2009

I am on my 5th week of pharmacology, and so far so good!

I dont think that this is the hardest course, lol i am taking it together with fundamentals, and i think that fundamentals is a lil bit harder.!

the more you can understand about a drug the better it is, memorizing is no good!

refresh your math, because it will help!

so far i think that antibiotics were a little pain! since there are so many of them and some times, they sound like the same!