Pharmacology online?

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Has anyone taken Pharmacology online, while doing the rest of your nursing classes face to face? If you have, how hard did you find it?

Thanks!

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I took it online as a pre-req for an ABSN program that I was on the waitlist for. I did not get a spot in the program and will be starting a traditional BSN in the fall. I've taken several online classes before, and all I can really say is that it truly depends on your instructor.

Pharmacology is really difficult material and there is A LOT of it. If you have the option, I would find out from the instructor what kind of methods they will be using to teach online. If they utilize chat sessions, message boards, and if they give you regular assignments (helps you stay on track) along with resources for additional learning aides besides your textbook, AND if they choose a good textbook (we had Lehne) you will probably be fine.

I found that it really helped to have an instructor who explains things to you. In my class, we had to "meet" every week for two hours online and she would basically lecture and we would go over study questions (we all had mics so we could talk to each other).

I have a previous degree in a completely unrelated field, and pharm was THE HARDEST class I have ever taken in my life, but I studied hard and got an A. :)

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Specializes in Cardiac Nursing.

I took Pharmacology online last semester as I wanted to have all my program corequisites done prior to starting my program in August to lighten my load so I can continue to work.

I found Pharmacology somewhat difficult because a lot of the names of drugs aren't named in a way that elicits an association with what the drug is treating. In addition, it was a bit of information overload. I got in the A in the class but I worked pretty hard to get it. I am a pretty independent learner, and often prefer not to have classes with lectures because I often don't need them if new non-book material isn't presented. With Pharmacology however, I sometimes wished I had the classroom to ask more questions, or have lecture to reinforce drug classes and disease associations. It is also the only class that I wish I would have waited on to have some connection to actual clinical practice (I think working with patients would have reinforced a lot of the common drugs).

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

I think it comes down to what kind of learner you are and how heavy of load you have with other responsibilities.

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I couldn't agree more with the two previous posts. They had some great points.

I also took it online as a prereq to the ABSN program I'm starting next month. While the material is difficult and warrants some sort of explanation, it's not bad as long as you are good at studying on your own and have a teacher that is willing to help. My professor responded to emails the same day as I'd send them or first thing in the morning. It's a lot of reading and researching (we had to write discussions and responses every week on one or more drugs, plus quizes every other week). I think if I had to choose, I would've taken the class in person, but that wasn't an option for me since the only place I could take it was 1 1/2 hour drive away. I'm pretty good at learning on my own, but I prefer a face-to-face lecture.

I also agree that taking it while having clinicals would've helped clarify some info and make it stick a little better. Unfortunately, my program required it as a prereq, so taking it along side clinicals wasn't an option.

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Thank you everyone for the advice. Unfortunately, taking it face to face is not an option due to my work. I will start the Pharmacology class 5 weeks before my clinicals, so I will be sort of taking them together!

I did medical terminology online and got an A in that. So wish me luck!

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Hi,

I also will have to take Pharm online. I start my program next month and 6 weeks after it starts we go into clinical. And 10 weeks into this 1st semester we begin our Pharm class and apparently it overlaps into the 2nd semester. I also wish it was a class that could be taken in the classroom setting. I liked one of the previous posts stating that their online teacher held a "virtual class".. that sounds like a great way to make the online class more effective!!

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Can anyone tell me where I can take Pharmacology Online with at least 2-3 credits. I'm am REALLY LOOKING for ONLINE.

Thanks,

MinoritySN

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I am currently taking an online Pharm class.. I, personally, do not care for it - at all. We do not even have the option to take this course in a classroom, only online is offered. I suppose if you have a good instructor it would make it a bit less stressing and confusing. And a good textbook would be great. I do much better learning in person, and even though my instructor provides podcasts, I do not gain much from them. They are poorly recorded and there is too much extra, non-important information in them so I don't waste my time listening to them anymore. It is very frustrating. We take online quizes, which are not correlated with the text. So it's pretty much up to Google and a good guess to get the answers right. The tests are mostly based on the quizes and are less complex - we go to the school to take those as they are not open-book.

Overall, I am just very dissatisfied with this course. It would have been great if we were given the choice to take this before the start of the semester (my first, it's an ADN program), but we were not. Once started with the nursing classes/clinical/labs, all else falls off to the side and is not as much of a priority as far as study time.

I hope some of you have better luck!

Katie, SN :)

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Hey Katie,

You Never mentioned the name of the Program, I already had Pharmacology Lecture Based and got a C, the material is just so much in just a little time (10 weeks), so I wanted to take it over, but online and considering I already had pharmacology the material is still fresh in my brain, and I like online course work, so I figured I'll be fine.

MinoritySN

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My school offers a summer online pharmacology class, though it is on the down low, lol. I took it the summer before starting the nursing program, I just enrolled without asking since the only pre-req was admission to the nursing program. It is supposed to be for students who failed the normal spring pharmacology class. I loved it, I did the first 2 1/2 weeks while on vacation in Florida. It was a lot of material, but the tests were open book. They were timed with only 1 minute or so allotted per a question, so you couldn't just look everything up. I liked it that way since I feel like I got to understand the pharmacology beyond just rote memorization. Now while everyone else is taking pharmacology and nursing classes at the same time, I can focus on the nursing class. I have a feeling I am going to be very popular around exam time though, lol.

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OK, what was the NAME of your school?

MinoritySN

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Bluegrass Community and Technical College - Bluegrass Home

They have not released the summer schedule of classes yet, so I don't know if it will be offered. I also don't know if they let visiting students take the class.

It is listed as NR 125 - Nursing Pharmacology and is a 2 hour class.

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