Pharmacology

Anonymous1257 · Feb 16, 2015

Pharm is a difficult one, I'm currently in clinical pharm and have found listening to recordings of the lecture while commuting or really doing anything that I would normally listen to music during has helped tremendously. I try to relisten to the lectures 3-4 times each and study continually. It sounds like you're on the right path with all the studying though, keep at it, you'll know more than you think!

I also highly recommend quizzing with a study buddy, just 1 or 2 focused people so it doesn't devolve into hanging out.

SierraBravo · Feb 16, 2015

You need to come up with memorization techniques that will help you remember the vast amount of information related to pharmacology. I've said it before, there is no shortcut here. It just takes time and you just have to learn it. This should be something that you really commit to memory because if you work in a hospital you will likely be passing meds all the time.

Incidentally, in my BSN program a 73 was passing and in grad school now, we need at least an 83 across the board. So if you're planning on continuing your education, I'd suggest you start getting used to setting your goals higher.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2015

Pharmacology Flashcards

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2015

You know what, I find that people who have a really comfortable level of understanding of physiology and pathophysiology have a lot better chance at learning pharmacology. I mean, if you sorta skate through the ideas around alpha and beta in cardiovascular and pulmonary, it's going to be much, much harder to have "X drug is a beta antagonist and it does this" stick in your head.

Step away from the flashcards and memorization for a little bit and go pull out your physiology book to review those systems until you're really comfortable with them. THEN pull out a flashcard and read it and see if the light doesn't shine a little brighter for you. I'll bet it will.

_iamkel · Feb 16, 2015

Pharm is tough. I am a junior nursing student and I had Pharm last semester. I passed with an A and I am now a tutor at my school for the subject.

My first piece of advice for you is to not stress out. I know, it's way easier said than done. But, you need to be able to be in the moment when you are studying/learning pharmacology and not worry about anything else.

Figure out your learning style. I'm the type of student where I sit in class, listen to a lecture and I absorb the information. The key to be able to have the information stick is to go over everything you just learned right after class. That is when I move the information from my short term memory to my long term memory. Waiting a few days to look at the information you learned today in class isn't going to help you remember stuff. I understand after a Pharm lecture you are completely drained. But, to get where you want to be you have to discipline yourself.

Don't get yourself tied up in memorizing all of the different specific drugs. Learn the category of the drug first. For example, cardiac drugs- know what you would use a calcium channel blocker for, know the adverse effects, the most important information about this category of drugs and then generally know the most common drugs in the category. Your Pharm professors shouldn't really be testing you by asking which drug goes with which category. They will, but most of your questions will be along the lines of you needing to know that when you give that calcium channel blocker what could possibly go wrong, what should you be looking for in regards to therapeutic effect, are there any indications of using this drug in a certain patient. Therefore, focus your studying on being a safe nurse. Knowing the drugs will come with practice- in your clinical. When you have a patient make sure you look up all of their medications and start to familiarize yourself with what the drug is, what it does and it's indications and adverse effects.

Outlining really helped me for Pharm. A lot of it is memorization. Use youtube to help you clarify how the different category of drugs work. Spend a lot of time with this subject.

When I took my very first test for Pharm I went into it thinking I didn't know anything. I literally thought I was going to have no idea what I was doing. A good 90% of the test was focused on safety when administering medications, looking for adverse effects for drugs such as calcium channel blockers (not a specific drug).. and I ended up getting a 93 on the test I knew nothing about because I made sure that I focused my studying on safety. All of my friends who didn't do so well said that they focused more on memorizing specific drugs and not so much knowing what the category of the drug did.

I hope this helps!

IJ_606 · Feb 17, 2015

Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement. I feel a little better about pharm.

I will make the habit of listening to recordings of lecture on a on going basis.

I will definitely be reviewing the pathophysiology again then go back to looking at the drug categories and relate the information there. As well as using those amazing flashcards with my own little edits to where my class is focused on.

Thank you again!

IJ_606 · Apr 23, 2015

Hey Guy!

Just wanted to give an update on pharmacology. :) I got a B in the class thanks to the advice here on how to study and reminding me to stay clam.

Thanks again guys! :)

_iamkel · Apr 23, 2015

Hey Guy!
Just wanted to give an update on pharmacology. :) I got a B in the class thanks to the advice here on how to study and reminding me to stay clam.
Thanks again guys! :)

That's great!! Congrats! One step closer to your dream!

Anonymous1257 · Apr 24, 2015

Well done, congratulations