How to prepare for Physcial Assessment and Basic Pharmacology class

FYI, not every college has the same course numbers so its important to include the name of the class in your post.

In this case, Im assuming your talking about Physical Assessment and Basic Pharm. For me, prior to taking Pharmocology I read one of those 'for dummies' or 'made incredibly easy' books just to brush up... but when I got in the class I wished I had just used the text to start getting familier with classifications and commonly used drugs of those classes. I think memorizing the drugs have been the hardest part for me so far.

I dont know if there are any books you could use as additional material for physical assessment, but I would just start looking through the text book and study guides.. That seems to have been the most helpful to me in the past.

HTH! :)

Thanks for your response. Im sorry I was referring to Physical Assessment and Basic Pharm. Our first class was fundamentals of nursing.

Pharmacology= lot's of index cards. LOL. I'm not sure that you really need to do any prepping. Have you bought and used additional resources in the past? Did they help? I actually like the Made Easy line of books, but I don't think it's necessary to read them before hand.

Mosby has an excellent drug book (Mosby's Drug Reference 2010). It doesn't cost that much and it highlights key points about each drug or classification of drugs out there.

I am taking pharma now and it's not difficult. They key is to know the drug categories very well and know the 2-3 widely used drugs for each class.

Get the course syllabus and get a jump on the reading for week 1. Make sure you have a good, current drug guide (I recommend Springhouse or Davis). If you are in an ADN or BSN program, I also recommend 2010 Intravenous Medications: A Handbook for Nurses and Health Professionals. As for health assessment, I also used Mosby's Pocket Guide to Health Assessment by Pamela Weilitz (6th edition-orange book published in 2006)...it gives you some quick "down and dirty" pointers on health assessment. Another good one is Health Assessment Made Incredibly Visual, 2nd Edition (from the "Incredibly Easy" series...really good especially if you are a visual learner.) All are available on Amazon. Good luck!