So, What help books did you use for Pharm?

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Hi All Thanks for reading!

I'm starting Pharmacology in January! I've heard rumors about how HARD this class is and I'm nervous because I'm also taking Nutrition, Intermediate composition (requirement for bsn program :/ ), Advanced health assessment & advanced fundamentals! (fundamentals 2.)

I was wondering what books you used to help you with learning the material AND/OR test taking skills. I would really like to find a book that would have what I'm covering in class and show me how to conquer the tests! Or tips on how to learn it. Anything that you found helped you get through the course, I want to know about it!

Any help is very much appreciated :)

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Specializes in ER trauma, ICU - trauma, neuro surgical.

Try and group the medications based on the generic name b/c most of them have a similar base term. Dibucaine, lidocaine, benzocaine, tetracaine all cause numbness. Learn how they interact with the body. How do they cause numbness? What is happening on a cellular level in the neurons? Many of them have the same side effects, drug interactions, and mechanism of action. Where they vary is metabolism or elimination. Some may have a half life of 1 hr or 12 hrs. Know their classifications. Diazepam, midazolam, lorazepam, alprazolam are all benzodiazepines. They all have the same effects.

Know the difference between agonist, antigonist, anticholenergic, cholenergic, adreneric etc. Knowing what a beta2 agonist does can help you identify how a med reacts with the body. These terms close specify the mechanism of action and I was really bad a mixing up agonists or adrenergics b/c it all sounded the same. I zeroed in on the beta2 part and didn't play attention to whether it was blocked or enhanced, which I payed for on the exam.

Next, study the tables in the book. It will list all the drugs together in one group. Stare at it. Identify the names and catch how they are similar. Almotriptan, frovatriptan, naratriptan, eletriptan, rizatriptan all end in triptan and all of them are selective serotonin receptor agonists. Most of these drugs are very similar minus a couple of specifications. If one of the listed drugs are different, make a note (sometimes they like throwing that curve ball).

They are mostly looking for use, mechanism of action, side effects, half life, or drug interactions. They love asking drug interactions. What med can you not take with grapefruit or what happens if these two are given together.

Study toxicity levels. What happens if someone takes too much of a tricyclic antidepressant? Some drug only work after a therapeutic levels is reached, but there are factors that can lead to toxicity. Renal failure, liver failure, infection can all lead to toxicity and the side effects become enhanced or dangerous.

Lastly, study the same things over and over. Give yourself tons of time before the test. Don't study 2 days before b/c it won't work. There's to more info.

On top of normal studying, dedicate every Sunday to studying your notes (for the week) as if you are taking an exam. Even though my next exam was 4 weeks away, I would have a mock cram section for the week. So when I had to take the real exam, I had already engrained it in my head 3 weeks ago. Then, I would constantly go back and review the same thing over and over until it was redundant.

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Specializes in Intensive Care Unit.

Pharmacology reviews and rationales by Mary Ann Hogan - whole series is awesome :)

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Awesome! thanks for replying! I've heard that Hogan is really really good. I'm seriously considering buying some of her stuff! :) How do i know that what will be in her book will be in my class, though? I'm in a BSN program ?

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.
Pharmacology reviews and rationales by Mary Ann Hogan - whole series is awesome :)

Yes I agree, that whole series *IS* awesome! So is the "Made Incredibly Easy" series. I have several books in that series including Nursing Pharmacology and it really helped me with my pharm course.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.
Awesome! thanks for replying! I've heard that Hogan is really really good. I'm seriously considering buying some of her stuff! :) How do i know that what will be in her book will be in my class, though? I'm in a BSN program ?

Pharm is pharm, the information wont' change except with more research and EBP, blah blah blah; however, WHAT you will be tested on will depend on your instructor. These books will just help supplement your instructor's lecture material and hopefully make things easier for you to understand. My pharm instructor was a nurse practitioner so she had a tendency to "overload" our heads with information...and some of her ways of teaching were difficult to grasp. I had this instructor for other classes but was struggling with her for pharm...the other books I bought to supplement her material really helped, especially since our required pharm textbook was DRY :/

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Specializes in Intensive Care Unit.
Awesome! thanks for replying! I've heard that Hogan is really really good. I'm seriously considering buying some of her stuff! :) How do i know that what will be in her book will be in my class, though? I'm in a BSN program ?

The books are separated by nursing subject - medsurg, pharm, maternity/neonatal, psych, etc. I got the medsurg one first to see if I liked it and I figured it would cover all my nursing topics for the most part. I really like the pharm one also it makes learning the categories easy and picks out important highlights the NCLEX uses.

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