Pharmacology

jillybean1126 · Jun 29, 2018

I found using sarah registered rn videos on youtube was very helpful. She also put together a fantastic website that is extremely user friendly that has print outs as well as quizzes to test yourself. registerednursern.com I am a visual learner so I would often use pinterest for specific areas or classifications of medications. Uworld is also great for study material, expensive but very helpful.

forevernursem · Jun 29, 2018

Why did you fail?

My teacher provided power-points and outlines, so I would study those everyday (each day about 3-4 hours of studying).

Flashcards work as well to help you remember the drugs action, therapeutic effect, side effects, and interactions.

Pharm is all memorization, so study everyday to get the information engraved in your brain.

marable · Jun 30, 2018

I agree memorization is key especially with conversions from mg to gm , gtts to ml , etc....Once you have those down you will be able to calculate dosages easier....I would suggest that during your career that when you do have to calculate a drug that you ALWAYS calculate it twice...I was a nurse for 41 years and I always calculated my drugs twice....Even if something comes up to you calculated by the pharmacist , if you are not familiar with that drug , calculate it again ...In my career I came across several mistakes made by the pharmacist.....In the end , it is on you , not the pharmacist....

carti, BSN, RN · Jul 1, 2018

read before class. If your teacher lectures off powerpoints, finish about 3/4ths of the entire PPT before class so when you are in class, you know exactly what's going on.

I also made a chart for each drug discussed in class and noted their SE's, MOA's, Nursing Implications and Drug Class/Type.

it's alot of work, but Pharm is a hard class. My school combined it to Pathopharmacology

JenMH88RN, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2018

What was it about pharmacology that you didn't quite grasp?? Was it the classes of medications?? What I did as a nursing student was learn the last 4-5 letters in a class of drugs. For example: ACE Inhibitors end with -pril; Beta-Blockers end with -olol; H2 histamine blockers nd with -idine; this way, I knew that if the question was asking about lisinopril, metropolol (antihypertensives), or cimetidine, The answer would involve blood presure or GERD. It'salso important to know the action and side effects of these drugs of these drugs in order to answer test questions. Once you know the class for most drugs, the action/therapeutic effects/side effects will not be that difficult to figure out. Flash cards can be helpful as well. Write the name of the drug (generic and brand name) on the blank side of the cardand write the action/therapeutic effects/side effects/nursing interventions/patient teaching on the other side. You can try highlighting the tops of the groups of drugs so that you know which ones are antihypertensives, respiratory meds, GI meds, etc

silenthunder · Jul 5, 2018

For your class all of the above is good.

you also need to cater your studying style a little bit to the tests. For pharm many proffs tend to focus on side effects, method of action, and the key things a nurse has to do before and after administering a drug (they may also test why the drug is given). Some proffs will test mostly the common drugs that you will see on the 'floor' but others will test more widely (since you are retaking you might remember some of what you saw on the tests)

I don't know if the professor offers this but ask if you can see the tests again that you took and see if there were some types of questions that you got wrong (I know this sounds geeky - but if its a while between the test and me viewing it agian I often study a bit before coming in to review the test so the material is fresher in my head). I"ll be honest - I'm not a great test taker - and as a result I tend to try and see my tests (especailly multiple choice)

the last thing I did was try and create a context for remembering drugs in the clinical setting. I studied the drug list for each patient assigned and identified all of the drug classes.

tmccstu2018 · Jul 16, 2018

I started off my pharm class by using flash cards and strictly trying to memorize. I really knew the material but I ended up bombing my first exam because I didn't know how to apply the information. What helped me was concept mapping each class of drugs. If you have a white board it'll help a ton. I also tried to do as many practice questions as I could to help me apply the drugs to as many scenarios as I could. Ended up getting a B in the class after changing my study routine.