Meds For NCLEX

LDR-RN · Jan 25, 2009

I just took my exam yesterday, and I had tons of drug questions. They weren't easy, and they were in all categories. Only one of them was a drug that I was pretty familiar with- statins, all of the other questions were really hard, mostly drugs I hadn't ever heard of. Good luck, I know this doesn't offer much encouragement, but thats how it was for me. If you don't know your drugs, I would just hope not to get many questions, b/c there is so much info out there, you can't know it all.

VERYNEW · Jan 25, 2009

This is exactly what I'm afraid of. You can spend months studying drugs ,and it might be worthless. Who knows all of them? My docs always looking at their palms when someone is asking them about medication out of their area of practice.For some reason I thought on NCLEX we can expect questions about medication from "real life" ,from everyday practice.

dayo · Jan 25, 2009

know your cardiac, asthma, and antidepressants like prozac, maois, tricyclics and srri's. l was asked 10 questions on medications. l was asked questions on each of this class of drugs. l didn't know all the answers but l used the strategies to pass nclex at 75 questions. for example if they ask you about prozac. what else is prozac used for.

do you know prozac is used for patients with food disorder like bulimia (an eating disorder). l didn't get questions on side effects but what the medication is used for and what teaching to give to patients.

so if l don't know the anwer l will use maslow. food is physiological in maslow. so l will pick food.

prozac is used for patient with food disorder. check this out l am sure l have the right information about prozac.

for example if they ask you a question about maio's drug like nardil. what do you teach a patient on nardil - anwer = if you are on nardil, you are not suppose to be eating cheese etc. cheese is food - in maslow it is physiological need.

so this is how to pick right anwer.

if they ask you about [color=#0000cc]diabetes insipidus. you should know it is a disease that patient loss water. therefore the patient is high and dry. meaning dehydrated. if they give you a answer - pick one with water/ iv. the patient is going to need water. use maslow - water is physiological- you need water to survive.

to all nclex taker- read, know your strategies and diseases and you will pass nclex

suzanne4, RN · Jan 25, 2009

Any medication can be on the exam, there is not going to be anyway to know them all as well as remember them.

Usually one can expect to see meds that they have not covered in school. The exam usually tries to cover things that you did not already have in school and were tested on.

Know the basics for the different classes of meds.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 25, 2009

know your cardiac, asthma, and antidepressants like prozac, maois, tricyclics and srri's. l was asked 10 questions on medications. l was asked questions on each of this class of drugs. l didn't know all the answers but l used the strategies to pass nclex at 75 questions. for example if they ask you about prozac. what else is prozac used for.
do you know prozac is used for patients with food disorder like bulimia (an eating disorder). l didn't get questions on side effects but what the medication is used for and what teaching to give to patients.
so if l don't know the anwer l will use maslow. food is physiological in maslow. so l will pick food.
prozac is used for patient with food disorder. check this out l am sure l have the right information about prozac.
for example if they ask you a question about maio's drug like nardil. what do you teach a patient on nardil - anwer = if you are on nardil, you are not suppose to be eating cheese etc. cheese is food - in maslow it is physiological need.
so this is how to pick right anwer.
if they ask you about [color=#0000cc]diabetes insipidus. you should know it is a disease that patient loss water. therefore the patient is high and dry. meaning dehydrated. if they give you a answer - pick one with water/ iv. the patient is going to need water. use maslow - water is physiological- you need water to survive.
to all nclex taker- read, know your strategies and diseases and you will pass nclex

you are on the right track but then take things a step further.

what drug would you give if the patient had diabetes insipidus. and what is di and what are the usual causes of it? this is how you should be looking at it.

and if a patient cannot have cheese with a particular drug, why? and what specific cheeses, not all are classified the same as well. and if they cannot have cheese, what else can they not have with the drug?

this is how the exam is going to ask you things, not with the focus that you have made. you need to understand why something is being done or is not to be done and the reasons behind it. what you would do for it and why would be much more important and what they would be looking for in an answer.

best of luck on your exam. hope that this makes sense to you.

NewRN12109 · Jan 25, 2009

Hello, I'm going to take an Exam in February , there is no way I can know all medications with effects etc etc by this time. What do you guys think ? Is there any particular group of meds that I need to study somewhat harder then others.
Thank you

Hi There,

It's different depending on how you study. What helped me was learning the prefix's of the drugs and learning them in categories. I used the following web site which helped me alot

http://www.takerx.com/class.html If you took pharmacology in school and still have the book that also helped me. You can look at the classifications and they will tell you things like insulin is taken in the am before breakfast, Anti depressants are taken in the am because a side affect is insomnia. Stuff like that. Also google new drugs I was very lucky I only had 10-12 meds on my test and I never heard of any of them accept for 1. I just tried to find some similarity in the answers. Good luck. I'm sure you will be fine.

BubbysMa · Jan 25, 2009

Meds really scare me. When I think about them, I don't remember, but if I see a med, and something that reminds me, thats when I remember

caliotter3 · Jan 25, 2009

I would start with learning the major classifications of meds and a representative med from each. If you truly are at a loss when it comes to this area and can't get it together before your upcoming test date, you should seriously consider rescheduling and put some intense time into studying your pharm. I remember getting hit by lots of meds and not having the slightest idea what they were about and that was almost 20 years ago. You can be sure that meds are a prime suspect to have a heavy place on the exam. Good luck.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 26, 2009

what drug would you give if the patient had diabetes insipidus. and what is di and what are the usual causes of it? this is how you should be looking at it.
and if a patient cannot have cheese with a particular drug, why? and what specific cheeses, not all are classified the same as well. and if they cannot have cheese, what else can they not have with the drug?
this is how the exam is going to ask you things, not with the focus that you have made. you need to understand why something is being done or is not to be done and the reasons behind it. what you would do for it and why would be much more important and what they would be looking for in an answer.

here is my confusion. there are some drugs i know that are not given because of disease process. they are given to counteract the side effects or adverse reactions or are meant as prophylactics to other drugs or conditions. the only reason i know this about the drugs is because i know the drugs. given this information, how does one answer a question on pharmacology if he/she has no idea what the drug is???? how do you even determine its classification if you don't even know the drug? the prefix rules only works on the common drugs we are shown in nursing school. they do not work on all... i can think of a few that end in -lol for example that are not beta blockers. however, since i know those drugs i would not accidently think that they were beta blockers. on the other hand, people following the -lol rule may think that they are and will be way off base.

also, the rule of di being high and dry etc.... what is the trick or logic behind knowing the disease process and relating it to the drug? as i have mentioned, some drugs are not given because of a disease process, they are given to counteract something else...

ignore my rambling... maybe i am speaking too advanced... maybe the nclex does not expect as much as i think it does regarding pharmacology? on the other hand, what people have reported on this board is that so many of the drugs are unknown... i am trying to understand how to answer pharmacology questions if i am not familiar with the drug. please help! thanks... :)