How to study MEDS for NCLEX

[kalop]

To those who already took the nclex and passed, how did you all study for the meds?

Any ideas or notes you could share to us future nclex takers? Thank you for your help.

[rose2010]

This link might of interest. good luck.

PHARM for the NCLEX - Nursing for Nurses

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

I must be getting old, because I really don't remember!

If I'm not mistaken, there are only a handful of med-related NCLEX topics. (Dilantin = gingival hyperplasia & orange urine, onset of different kinds of insulins, signs of dig and lithium toxicities, and stuff about Coumadin).

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

kalop said:

To those who already took the nclex and passed, how did you all study for the meds?

Any ideas or notes you could share to us future nclex takers? Thank you for your help.

Here's a list of tips:

1. Know all the drug families

2. Know denominations such as "zine", "pine", "pril"

3. Keep your eyes peeled for current used drugs (i.e. watch TV commercials)

4. Know that side effects are "a drug that is working too well" (so if you know what a drug does...)

5. Know as many drugs as possible

[32588]

I've been using the NCSBN Learning Ext pharmacology section as a guide to narrow down which meds are really the important one and then looking up more about each class, their action and it's common side effects in my pharmacology book from Nursing school. It seems that I am retaining SO much more this way and it's a manageable way of studying (one body system a day right now).

[pers]

Not the method I would recommend exactly, but I didn't study meds at all. It was by far my weakest area and even though I passed in 75 questions, I believe it showed on the NCLEX as I did have quite a few med questions. Considering the med questions I had, I would never have studied properly anyway and without getting more specific than permitted, I couldn't suggest a way for someone else to study either.

There are a few new grads working at my hospital who graduated in Dec and they all took pretty much the same tactic, learned the classes and how to group them by name (-olol, -pril, etc). None of them found that helpful for their exam (they all passed) but I do think it helped them feel more confident to test and that's worth quite a bit in my opinion.

[JbreezyRN]

Meds are my weaknesses and seriously its really hard to study on them especially since you feel like you are reading/seeing the same thing (side effects,adverse effects etc.) over and over again for a lot of them. So I took a rather more interesting approach for me and that is to learn something visually... so I borrowed a book from my dad and its called MOSBY's pharmacology memory note cards second edition and I love it because it has illustrations and mnemonic that's easy to remember. Just remember the basics, teachings for meds, and suffix.

[Aim2Nurse]

marcos9999 said:

Here's a list of tips:

1. Know all the drug families

2. Know denominations such as "zine", "pine", "pril"

3. Keep your eyes peeled for current used drugs (i.e. watch TV commercials)

4. Know that side effects are "a drug that is working too well" (so if you know what a drug does...)

5. Know as many drugs as possible

I'm a new nursing student and have been hearing from a few people to study pharmacology and drugs by drug family. I'm trying to understand exactly what a drug family is . Does a drug family mean it's pharmacologic classification? Taking Beta-blockers as an example, is this a family? They all end in -olol. I have the Davis Drug Guide for Nursing and "drug family" isn't specified, only pharmacologic and therapeutic classifications. Does anyone have a recommended book that specifies the drug families each med belongs to? I'm really trying to understand all this. Thanks so much.

[dumb]

I never knew that learning Pharmacology can be fun!!! I came across this book ..Pharmacology Made Insanely Easy and I was hooked True to its name...Its easy to understand and its mostly cartoons!!! so its easy to remember Here's a preview of the contents of the book. Click image to go to amazon.

Read the reviews on the page.

Lol! I know I sound like Home TV shopping.... But its trueeeee!!! It wurks!!!!

Good luck! Future RNs!!!!

[tgriffin112]

I have really gotten some good feed back from this web site. I just need to know how to enhance my test taking skills. I have a kaplan test taking strategies book. Also how do you have the strength to move on after taking the test four times. I gruduated in 2008. How do you study to make up for lost time with out being discouraged.

[dumb]

I found this post very inspiring:)

Passed 2nd time, graduated 4 years ago - Nursing for Nurses

I hope it will somehow inspire you too:)

I know you can do it.... Because I see how much you want to pass and you are willing to do anything to reach your goals all the best! ?