Pharmacology

Nursing Students General Students

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I have a few months before my nursing program starts and I'd like to start learning the drugs that are most commonly used instead of reading ahead in my textbooks.

So...what book should I get? Which ones should I start studying? I am pretty clueless in this subject matter so HELP!

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Pharmacology Made Insanely Easy. It'll be a lifesaver. Do try to enjoy your free time too.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Would recommend you enjoy your time off before school starts as you will wish you had. You will get enough pharmacology in school and knowing which ones to learn will be pretty difficult until you start clinical and seeing first hand which drugs are used most often.

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Would recommend you enjoy your time off before school starts as you will wish you had. You will get enough pharmacology in school and knowing which ones to learn will be pretty difficult until you start clinical and seeing first hand which drugs are used most often.

Especially since which drugs are most common depends on what kind of nursing you are doing. The common drugs in LTC are different from the common drugs on a med/surg floor.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I would read ahead and make notes about what you don't understand

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Specializes in Case Management, ICU, Telemetry.

I would also wait to really study. A problem with trying to get a head start is that trying to memorize medications without anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology knowledge would be really difficult. There are a lot of drugs that you will see all the time in med-surg, LTC and critical care. But if you end up in OB or Psych it will be totally different. Even though I don't know how much you are helping yourself, I'll give you a little list of meds... :) excuse the spelling.

metoprolol

hydralazine

losartan

morphine

dilaudid

pantoprazole

diphenhydramine

lorazepam

clopidrogel

solumedrol

clonidine

percocet

acetaminophen

oxycodone

feso4 (Iron Sulfate)

ibuprofen

advair

albuterol

timolol

dopamine

epinepherine

albumin

piperacillin-tazobactum

penicillin

vancomycin

gentamycin

acyclovir

phenergan

zofran

....

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I would also wait to really study. A problem with trying to get a head start is that trying to memorize medications without anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology knowledge would be really difficult. There are a lot of drugs that you will see all the time in med-surg, LTC and critical care. But if you end up in OB or Psych it will be totally different. Even though I don't know how much you are helping yourself, I'll give you a little list of meds... :) excuse the spelling.

metoprolol

hydralazine

losartan

morphine

dilaudid

pantoprazole

diphenhydramine

lorazepam

clopidrogel

solumedrol

clonidine

percocet

acetaminophen

oxycodone

feso4 (Iron Sulfate)

ibuprofen

advair

albuterol

timolol

dopamine

epinepherine

albumin

piperacillin-tazobactum

penicillin

vancomycin

gentamycin

acyclovir

phenergan

zofran

....

Ty! I'm in an absn program and I don't want to waste my freetime now but would like to start familiarizing myself with something.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

I agree with these guys. A couple of other meds I wanted to add:

Lactulose

Fentanyl

Docusate sodium

Aspirin

Xanax

Hydrocodone

Also, familiarize yourself with the effects of alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, etc. You'll see them in pretty much every unit. Also know alcohol withdrawal symptoms, including by the hour (because 12 hours since last drink is very different than 48 hours since last drink). Just having the familiarity will really help you.

Good luck!

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I just took pharmacology and it was my best grade out of all my classes for the semester. You won't start out learning about drugs right away. You will learn about pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. This is the basis for understanding how drugs work. Peripheral nervous system drugs can be hard. You should know your receptors and what they do (alpha1, alpha2, beta1, beta2, nicotinicN, nicotinicM, Muscarinic). As this will help you understand the effects of many drugs. My school really emphasizes cardiac drugs so make sure you study those and have a good understanding of how the heart works. I love my textbook and it is helpful to read through or if there is an online resource for your book look over the key points. My teacher has the "pharmacology made insanely easy" and she really likes it. I have the Mosby's 2014 Nursing Drug Reference Handbook and Pharmacology Memory notecards. I love them they are easy to use and have a lot of information. I wish you the best of luck!

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Specializes in Case Management, ICU, Telemetry.

I agree about knowing your receptors, antagonists, agonists etc., however, I found that I only really used those IN the pharmacology class, not so much in real-world so I have all but forgotten most of it. Knowing where things are processed is especially important, more with some drugs than others.

For instance: aminoglycosides are processed by the kidneys, therefore patients with kidney issues either should not get these drugs or they should be closely monitored. Statins are processed in the liver. So on and so fourth. It is also helpful to know general effects of CLASSES of drugs... ACEs, ARBs, Statins, Anti-psychotics, SSRIs, Opiates, Vasopressors, Vasodilators, MAOIs... :) If I think of anything else I will post :)

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Specializes in Oncology.

Just wanted to make note of this thread, so that I can refer back to it when school starts Tuesday. Thanks cjcaet for starting this thread!

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