Pharmacology

I have not taken that course yet, but I do know flash cards can be helpful when it comes to memorization. Good luck!

I know someone who went to medical school and wallpapered their room...house...with handwritten drugs and their properties. That's my plan too, for pharm.

Here are my tips...

Read every chapter and take meticulous notes on it. Then, record those notes into an audio file and burn it onto a CD. For me, hearing myself read the information aloud really helped. Listen to those CDs wheneve you are in the car. That gave me an extra hour of study time every single day. I also bought Pharmacology Recall and downloaded the audio MP3s from their website and burnt myself a CD.

Be sure to use the website associated with your book (Evolve or The Point, etc...) Also use the CD that comes with the book. Both should have lots of NCLEX style review questions by chapter.

Make drug cards if writing information down really helps you. There is too much info on most drugs for flashcards to be really great, although I suppose you could use your drug cards like flash cards. Focus on nursing implications of each drug.

Learn the classes of drugs incredibly thoroughly. Then, learn about the exceptions to rules within those classes. Lots of test questions come from exceptions. Actually, when I read, I would sometimes write out what test questions I would ask from that material if I were writing a test.

Consider buying a book like pharmacology made easy. I didn't but some of my classmates did and found it helpful.

Try to get ahead on your reading if at all possible. If you get behind in pharm it'll be extremely difficult.

Pull out your patho book and think about the step in the pathology where the drug is having activity. If you give it context, it may stick better.

Take breaks when you study. 45 minutes on 15 minutes off. Plan some time on the weekend that is just for you, even if it's only an hour or two.

If you eat during studying, make it fruit and nuts or other healthy food. Sugar will just drain you. (I gotta admit to lots of caffeine when I had pharm though)

Good luck!

Seth