How many of your schools require a pharmacology class?

Isitpossible, LPN, LVN · Apr 27, 2010

im in a BSN program and my school does require it..i will take summer. I wonder if there is a difference if your an diploma/ADN/BSN program?

woman_king · Apr 27, 2010

I'm in an ADN RN program and my school (a technical college) also requires Pharmacology. I would think it's pretty essential if you're going to be administering medications...

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Apr 27, 2010

Three of my four semesters will have a pharmacology class- familes across the life span, individuals and families with intermediate health care needs and individuals, families and groups with complex health care needs. That's an ADN program. I can't imagine that people could complete an RN curriculum without pharmacology. Maybe the format you're using to study just isn't the most effective for you. Flash cards? Writing out the information yourself? Record it so you can listen to the information? I think you'll have to figure out a way to get that information down, understanding the medications you'll be administering will be essential.

R.NICU · Apr 27, 2010

my school requires it. Our instructor gave us a 20 question test everyweek over one section. So one week we'd have cardio, then respiratory, GI, etc.

that layout worked perfectly b/c you only had to focus on one area, and having a 20 question test every week on one specific area was so much better than a longer test covering several sections. To study, I made flash cards. I'm not a flash card person but it worked well, i aced every test (except a B on the final). I Put the generic and trade name on the front and whatever he wanted us to know about the drug on the back (mode of action, indications, adverse reaction..). I also would group my drugs by classification b/c drugs in the same class pretty much act the same way and have similar, if not the same, adverse reactions. Repitition, repitition, repitition. I would study those cards for hours, have people quiz me and quiz me some more! You can do it, put your back into it

Don't give up!!! Suck it up, study your butt off, and you can do it :). This class is only temporary. I know you can do it. Good luck.

tfleuter, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

I'm in a BSN program and we took pharm first semester. There's no way you can get out of nursing school and pass the nclex without pharmacology knowledge. My guess is that for schools that don't have an actual pharm class, integrate the info into other classes (ex: learn about antipsychotics in psych nursing)

Can you explain what's not clicking? Is it just the difficulty of memorizing so many different drugs, or understanding how they work? Maybe some of us here can give some helpful tips...

allnurses Guide · Apr 27, 2010

Yep, we don't have pharm class but it is integrated into EVERYTHING we do. Its hard subject matter for sure. I hope it gets better for you. :hug:

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

We have 2 semesters of it and it's its own class. I am in an associates program. It's also integrated into all our other classes on exams as well just like the dosage calc stuff.

aussiemom · Apr 27, 2010

Ours, for accelerated BSN, was required, but it was online. The traditional students sat in on the live lectures. Several of us commented that despite decent grades, no one really retained much that semester. It would have been much more helpful to be there in person, we thought. I felt like we got a good "dose" of pharm during each clinical, having to look up each med that our pts were taking and all the side effects...etc. The problem was, however, that most of them seemed to be on the same things...insulin, percocet, lovenox, heparin, atenolol, lasix...so the variety was somewhat limited. The LTC patients, however, had quite the variety and number of meds, so that's great experience in looking things up. Try epocrates.com. It's free and gives great info. Good luck studying!

trae55 · Apr 27, 2010

I'm in an ADN program and it's a prerequisite. I'm taking it right now and start the program this fall. Well, we have another nursing class (intro to basic care) that's also a prereq that I have to take this summer. I've heard these are prereqs so they can claim it's still an ADN program.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 28, 2010

I'm in an ADN program and it's a prerequisite. I'm taking it right now and start the program this fall. Well, we have another nursing class (intro to basic care) that's also a prereq that I have to take this summer. I've heard these are prereqs so they can claim it's still an ADN program.

I'm confused to the bolded part, why would they need to do these as pre reqs to "still claim" it's an ADN program?? What would it be if they were taken not as Pre Reqs?

trae55 · Apr 28, 2010

From what I heard, there can only be so many hours in the ADN program so they have more and more classes considered a prereq. I read it on this board from a grad from my school. I was wondering why all of these classes were considered prereqs.