Meds? Panic Mode has set in

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Hi

I need a good kick in the butt. I am a procrastinator by nature, but this is insane! I HAVE been doing Kaplan questions, but not real consistently. My weakest area is Pharm. I just don't know where to begin to try to build knowledge in the area--its TOO broad. I have a week open to study and would love advice from others on how you think I should direct myself and esp if you could give advice on how to tackle medications.

On Kaplan question bank I have gotten relatively high (75) scores followed by low ones (55) they seem to be all over the board. I have taken tests 1-3 and gotten a 57, 66, 61.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!

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Specializes in ICU, Geri, Education.

Hey there!,

Try learning by classes. For example the ending -sone indicates steriods, know they nursing implications for the class of steriods, example monitor for infection. I hope this helps!

Next practice, practice, practice!

;)

Keep us posted.

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Specializes in ER.

I took the exam yesterday and I was asked questions about drugs I have never heard of in my life. They didn't contain the common suffixes or roots like the -sones, -prils, -lols, -mycins, -ines, etc. etc. etc. and the question doesn't give you a clue as to what the drug does. It is something like: Your patient is taking "insert drug you've never heard of here" and then the question without a hint. That doesn't mean you shouldn't study the major classes. It's really the only thing you have to go on since it isn't possible to know everything about every drug that exists--there are tens of thousands. Not even a pharmacist could know that much information. That's why we have drug guides. Just be prepared to make educated guesses.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

It is horrible to scare the crap out of a test taker the way that they place some of those drugs on there. I wonder if some of the drugs are the experimental questions that dupe us. I did get some drugs that I knew...there were about three I had no clue about...one I made an educated and correct guess because I peeked when I got home. But, it is horrible...I am glad that mess is over for me.

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