How many of your schools require a pharmacology class?

Coruscatedgirl · May 2, 2010

Thank you all for your responses. I think it would make a whole lot more sense to break it up more (this is a 4 cr class) or to study diabetes, and diabetes drugs, study the heart study heart drugs. At least that would make it more applicable! We've been told to study by classification. I am struggling with that method.

Sarah010101 · May 2, 2010

Im in a BSN program and pharm was required as part of our curriculum. 60% or higher was a pass.

**new** · May 2, 2010

any nursing school that doesn't require a pharmacology class (AT LEAST one) is absurd. As an RN, much of your time will revolve around giving medications to people. It's a HUGE part of the job. In fact, I think there ought to be SEVERAL pharmacology classes throughout nursing school, and the degree of difficulty should be MUCH higher than what it typical is. This stuff should be 2nd nature to nursing students. None of this squeaking by stuff. Furthermore, any C grade in ANY class should be grounds for expulsion from the program entirely - NO REDOS. We are messing with people's lives here. Average shouldn't cut it.

Whew - not sure where that tangent came from! :)

CuriousMe · May 3, 2010

I'm sure that all nursing programs which allow you to sit for the NCLEX-RN at the end of it (no matter the degree you attained) require you to learn pharmacology. What differs is how they present that information. Some might integrate in to their nursing curriculum, some might have separate coursework for it, some require it as a pre-req. There's no way around learning it, because you'll need it in your nursing classes and of course you'll need it clinically.

My BS program has two terms of 3 credit pharmacology in the first year of the program.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 3, 2010

any nursing school that doesn't require a pharmacology class (AT LEAST one) is absurd. As an RN, much of your time will revolve around giving medications to people. It's a HUGE part of the job. In fact, I think there ought to be SEVERAL pharmacology classes throughout nursing school, and the degree of difficulty should be MUCH higher than what it typical is. This stuff should be 2nd nature to nursing students. None of this squeaking by stuff. Furthermore, any C grade in ANY class should be grounds for expulsion from the program entirely - NO REDOS. We are messing with people's lives here. Average shouldn't cut it.
Whew - not sure where that tangent came from! :)

Most nursing schools I know about and read about here, have a stricter grading scale, so what would be a normal C in some programs is a D in nursing school. Our school requires a 77% of above. I have seen people post some that are 80% of above. Even passing at a 77% is above "average" for most programs that have a 70% be a C.

andrewprincesspeach · May 3, 2010

I am in BSN program. at UTA. I took it already. That was a hard ass class. what I did was i put together 5 poster boards. and wrote down EVERY drug by pupose. For example: Antibiotic- Quinolone, Penicillin, etc.

missy--kay · May 3, 2010

i think any program, adn or bsn, that does not require pharm would be a very scary place. it is so vital to nursing. how could you pass meds not knowing the action, the side effects, etc...

SingDanceRunLife · May 3, 2010

I remember reading some members on this forum don't have specific pharm classes, but pharm is integrated into their other classes. Maybe this is the case for those who said their schools don't require pharm?

Benedina · May 3, 2010

At UNC (northern Colorado), Pharmacology and Pathophysiology are both pre-requisites to be taken before entry into the BSN program, so I'm taking both this semester before beginning the program in August.

In fact, my Pharmacology final is tomorrow, and I really need to get off AllNurses and get on with my reading.

Unmotivated,

Dina

citylights89, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2010

I'm going to go ahead and resurrect this forum here.

My school doesn't require a Pharmacology class either, although it is offered. However, in our Art & Science of nursing class, we had to make little drug cards of the most common drugs to know for clinicals. I don't think we're doing that again for this semester, though. It is odd that we don't have to take it because it is a vital part of the NCLEX. We take separate classes devoted to the medication calculations, pathophysiology, health care system, epidemiology, and gerontology and other vulnerable populations, but we aren't required to take pharmacology. We don't have to take medical terminology either, although I did. It helped.

Our NCLEX passing rate is like 99-100%. A whole lot of people drop or fail out, though, so its guess that rate represents the ones who did the work themselves. Ouch!

Despareux · Sep 3, 2010

I'm in an ADN program and I think it's strange that we have to take pharmacology to even qualify for entry into the nursing program. If you don't get accepted, those credits are sort of a waste, but whatever.

Oh, and we have to pass with ALL classes with an 84% to be allowed to test for entry, and once we're in, we have to maintain that 84%.

Pharm is a lot of studying. For me, besides writing my own drug cards, the next best thing was reading every single chapter three times while underlining key facts during my first reading, then at my second reading, highlighting more pertinent information, and finally taking notes in my book, along with drawing out complicated processes. By studying in this manner, I received a 97/98% in the class.

Staying organized and staying on top of your studies is vital for this class. You can do this!!

JStylesNY · Sep 4, 2010

I'm not completely sure on this matter, since I'm still in school, but I find it extremely disturbing that we actually have nurses out there who haven't taken Pharmacology.....