NCLEX Drugs

psu_213, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2014

Break the drugs into classes…i.e. beta blockers, antibiotics (and subgroups from there…penicillins, cephalosporins, etc.), ACE inhibitors, benzodiazepines, etc. Most drugs in a certain class have a similar root, prefix, suffix, etc. For example, beta blockers end in -lol (ex. metoprolol), ACE inhibitors in -pril (lisinopril), cephalosporins have "cef" or "ceph" somewhere in the drug name.

Once you have the drugs in groups, what are the indications for a given drug? What are the adverse reactions? Are there any other special considerations you need to know for a given class of drugs?

There are a ton of medications out there…it would be impossible to memorize all of them individually. Help yourself out by trying to cluster them.

algie7 · Sep 26, 2014

Hi I recently passed my NCLEX on Monday 22nd in 75 questions. I had about 5 questions relating to meds.

when I was studying I tried learning all the drug classifications but really couldn't take it all in. I sat and thought of the most common drugs they may ask me about and I decided to learn them. I looked at antibiotics, anti Parkinson's, anti psychotics, ADHD, hypothyroid drugs, lithium, digoxin, tb drugs and drugs for osteoporosis. In them I learned the ones with the most unusual side effects and that was it. Obviously I knew some other random ones but I just could not face learning every drug classification and as most people will tell you NCLEX can ask you about anything so when I didn't know a drug I wasn't surprised.

i think if you are really able to critically analyse a question and remove some of the obvious wrong answers then you have a greater chance of picking the right answer.

good luck, stay positive, you can do this