Does nursing pharmacology just make you feel like you're going to go a little crazy in
nursing school?
Okay, a lot crazy in nursing school?
I've got 3 tips to help make it better...seriously, a LOT better.
Hey friend, I'm Christina Rafano from nursingschoolofsuccess.com and here on the nursing school show we give
you the tips and resources you need to become an AMAZING nurse.
And today, we are talking about nursing pharmacology.
Yes, that little subject we all wish didn't exist in nursing school, right?!
I totally hear you.
So, as I was going through nursing school, there were 3 major nursing pharmacology hacks
that I used to make it a WHOLE lot better, and I'm going to cover those here with you
today.
And I've also got a free pharmacology cheat sheet for you that you can check out if you
want.
I put a link to that in the description below.
So let's go over the 3 nursing pharmacology hacks:
The first is to learn the generic name of the drug.
Did you know that most nursing school exams, including the NCLEX exam, actually don't use
trade or brand names?
Sure, they might have them in the question, but the generic name should always appear
somewhere in the exam question.
Now, here's why this is important: there can be a TON of different trade names for a drug,
but there is only ONE generic name.
This means that you don't need to memorize all of the different trade names, you can
just focus on the generic name.
Having only ONE thing to memorize for nursing pharmacology is a huge win.
So make sure to focus on learning the generic name of the drug.
Now here's a little BONUS tip, and this tip is part of our step-by-step process to learning
pharmacology that you can go through in our free pharmacology course.
I'll put a link to that in the description below as well if you're interested and want
to check that out.
So here's your bonus tip: after you've learned the generic name of the drug, you'll need
to learn what CLASS that drug belongs to.
A class of drugs is just a grouping of similar drugs.
When a few drugs belong to the same class, it tells you that they most likely act the
same way in the body, their mechanism of action is similar.
So all of the drugs in a drug class will have a similar mechanism of action.
So after you've learned the generic name, you'll want to learn it's drug class.
And this leads us into nursing pharmacology hack number 2: get familiar with the naming
structure of medications, particularly the endings of names.
Often times, generic drug names will have a similar name structure that can tell you
what drug class it belongs to.
For example, medications that end in "-pril" (P-R-I-L), like lisinopril, captopril, and
enalapril, are ace inhibitors, that's their drug class.
So all of those medications end in "-pril," which tells you that they belong to the drug
class of ace inhibitors.
So this makes it super easy when you're taking an exam, because often times you'll see a
medication you've never heard of before.
So don't freak out when this happens, just stop, take a deep breath, and look at the
name of the drug, and see if it contains any components of another drug you're familiar
with and could possibly be related to.
You might just be able to figure out what class it belongs to or what it does, just
by comparing it to other drug names you already know.
And finally, nursing pharmacology hack number 3 is to learn the mechanism of action of the
drug class.
Most nursing students, including me, are guilty of trying to memorize the mechanism of action
for each individual drug.
Have you done this?
You spend hours and hours trying to remember the mechanism of action of each drug, so you
can lean what each drug does.
Now, are you ready to have your mind blown, because here's a secret: the mechanism of
action of the drug CLASS will tell you the mechanism of action for the individual medications
within that drug class.
I'm gonna repeat that to help it sink in, because this is game changing: all of the
drugs within a drug class most likely have a similar mechanism of action, so you do not
need to memorize the mechanism of action for each individual drug, you only need to learn
the mechanism of action for the drug CLASS.
So if you know the mechanism of action of that drug class, you'll have a pretty good
idea of the mechanism of action for each individual drug that belongs to that drug class.
Does that make sense?
I really hope that's clear, because this one nursing pharmacology hack will just save you
a boat load of time studying, which is what we're here to do!
And those are your 3 nursing pharmacology hacks plus a bonus tip: learn the generic
name of the drug, learn what drug class it belongs to, learn the naming structure of
common medication classes, and learn the mechanism of action for the drug class.
I've got a couple more resources to help you out with all of this, and I put links to everything
in the description down below.
You've got a free cheat sheet and a free pharmacology course to help you out if you need.
And if you need more help with nursing school, make sure to check out the other videos we
have for you.
I really try to break down the difficult concepts to make it super easy for you to understand.
So check those out if you need.
Thanks for being here, and for being awesome.
Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be.
I'll catch you next time on the nursing school show, take care.