Teaching Pharm-I need your input

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2006

I guess what I appreciated most about my pharmacology professor was the way she tried to make the information relevant and understandable. She used examples from real life and focused more on the general classes of drugs rather than specific names. Though we had to know some specific drugs for the exams, the focus was more on critical thinking, for instance knowing when to hold a drug and when to give it.

She emphasized life-long learning, because as she pointed out there will be hundreds of new drugs coming out in the next five to ten years.

She also reminded to us that we should always have a drug reference handy and not be afraid to look things up, because even she has to do this if she isn't 100% certain about a medication.

All of my classmates and I now carry our drug handbooks with us on the unit during clinicals, and we aren't afraid to call the pharmacist with a question if we can't find the answer in any book. Some of the other student nurses I see at the hospital do not do this!

Most of all, let the students know that you are genuinely there to support their learning. If they feel that you are approachable, this will go a long way towards preventing the high level of frustration that students seem to have with many instructors/professors.

mandana · Jul 18, 2006

Many years ago in my basic nursing program we played Medication Bingo. We had Bingo cards with the names of drugs or classifications of drugs on them. We would pull out the names of drugs (generic or Brand name) from a fishbowl and cover up the appropriate matching square on the Bingo card. Winners got things like bags of chips or candy bars. I would imagine you could also design Medication Jeopardy, Millionaire and Family Feud with a little creativity.

Several of my instructors use a website - quia.com - to set up these sorts of things then just email us the link. I don't know what/if there are associated fees, but it's kind of a good little memory trick.

Amanda

CarolinaGal · Jul 18, 2006

I found a whole group of powerpoint slides relating to pharmacology and pharmakinetics. Here is the site: http://connection.lww.com/Products/karch3e/PPT.asp

Hope this helps!

btown annie · Jul 18, 2006

Just please don't overload your class with information. I realize pharmacology is very important in healthcare. It's very important to feel comfortable administering meds. However, I took pharm my first semester of nursing school and my teacher was rediculous. Too smart for his own good I think :) He is a pharmacist. It was his first time teaching the class. He went above and beyond what we really needed to learn (not just in my opinion ~ the rest of the students, as well as our other instructers agreed). Over 1/2 the class ended up failing out because of pharm (sooooo glad i was in the passing half). Try to make it kind of simplistic. If you are teaching new nursing students, chances are they've never heard of a lot of the meds. Hope this helps.

Princess74 · Jul 18, 2006

I found a whole group of powerpoint slides relating to pharmacology and pharmakinetics. Here is the site: http://connection.lww.com/Products/karch3e/PPT.asp
Hope this helps!

It will help me a lot. Thanks;)

charlies · Jul 20, 2006

don't be afraid of technology. tell them all to buy a pda, show them how to use it. end of class and semester. why do all these pharm classes make such an easy thing so hard? because it was hard for them before? if they had to do it the hard way we do too? what a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere.

JACKMAC · Jul 20, 2006

don't be afraid of technology. tell them all to buy a pda, show them how to use it. end of class and semester. why do all these pharm classes make such an easy thing so hard? because it was hard for them before? if they had to do it the hard way we do too? what a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere.

Part of my first day is talking about PDAs and appropriate programs to use. I hope you were told to use one. If by "the hard way" you are talking about looking up everything in a book, I agree. But, pharm is a difficult subject for some because of the number of drugs and classes of drugs to learn, and integrating physiology with drug classes.

Thanks for your input, and I agree.

KellieNurse06 · Jul 20, 2006

Good for you! What helps alot of people retain info is if some humor is thrown in, for me it works great because then it makes me want to pay attention more[bANANA][/bANANA]

fleur-de-lis, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2006

On behalf of your future students, thank you for seeking input. I wish more teachers would follow your lead.

Objectives are very helpful, just be sure you base the exams around them also. Powerpoints helped too.

My instructor had us do drug cards on the most common drug of a certain type, such as anticoagulant, antihypertensive, etc. and we just had to learn that one instead of several drugs in the same category.

Good luck!

nurse2beeinthefuture · Jul 28, 2006

Powerpoints are great, but make sure your students come to class, only put the basics on them, and alow them to fill in the rest of your lecture during in class time. Real life examples make remembering things easier. My professor also asigned group projects in which a real situation ocured giving what the patient was allergic to and signs and symptoms of their illness, and we had to find out what medication to give the patient, and report our findings to the class, this allowed student interactment while also allowing them to do the research for themselves. I also recomend a drug handbook, rember pharmacology is a bit hard for those who havent yet had pathophysiology. Good luck.

browneyedgirl71 · Jul 28, 2006

Pharm was a of memorization and feel that all my prof focused on was side effects and contraindications. I know that stuff is important, but I also feel that it was just memorization. I wish that she had gone over more physiology - basically understanding the core of what the drug does to the body. I wanted to understand and not just memorize. I feel that is the best way to learn.

arelius · Jul 28, 2006

For my nutrition class my professor provided PowerPoints but left 5-10 blank spaces per page that way as students were following along they could fill in the information one page after another. This helped keep us students more focused on the lecture and more people showed up for class.