piranah
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does anyone know a good way of going about this because i just got into pharm in my medic class and its kickin my butt....any suggestions?
Med. memorization
- Thread starter piranah
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Ridryder911
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The only thing you should memorize about med.'s is the dosages. Sorry, you should truly understand physiology of pharmakinetics, to know how they work and function. Have a good background understanding of hormones, central nervous system and their divisions.
There are plenty of associated texts about the dynamics of pharmacology. Check out Amazon .. maybe ."Pharmacology..incredibly easily". Most of those texts are good books.
R/r 911
There are plenty of associated texts about the dynamics of pharmacology. Check out Amazon .. maybe ."Pharmacology..incredibly easily". Most of those texts are good books.
R/r 911
Which part of learning the medicines is messing you up? Is it associating names with actions? Mechanisms? Dosages?
For names and mechanisms, I highly recommend charting them out according to what they do. Another possibility is to consider a medicine and perhaps imagine the type of patient you would use it for or who uses it. Association strengthens learning.
No matter what though, you should hit them each day, preferably multiple times. Immersion is a wonderful thing.
Take care
-B
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piranah
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the only problem is lack of time......i have class on mondays wedsdays and saturdays and each class we learn 6 meds and everything about them( i mean everything). and we are tested on those six next class. then go over 6 more....lol my teacher wants to make sure we know everything about them...which i like....i have a good understanding of what the pharmokenetics of them are but just memorizing all that information is,really,really,hard.i was wondering if i was missing a trick or something on the whole memory thing...
Jango
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Repetition and memorization. That's what it took for me, and using index cards is a great idea too. No time? Make time, not excuses....thats the only answer I can give you. At work and things are slow? Pull out those cards and get busy, on the crapper....pull the cards out.
MSDeltaFlt
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Understanding the "why" will make the "what" and the "how" make sense.
For example:
Epi: Do you know what happens to your body when your adrenalin kicks in? It's during the "fight or flight" scenarios or even athletics. Your heart rate goes up along with your BP and resp, the heart will contract faster and with more force, bronchioles open up, digestive tract slows down, pupils open a bit wider, you have a heightened sense of awareness, may feel a bit jittery, and your hands and feet will sweat some.
These are primitive responses to a stressful situation. And when you give a drug that is a derivative of epinephrine (Adrenalin), you can get some or all of those same reactions. Some are designed to happen. Some are side effects (effects that the drug wasn't designed for, but are going to happen anyway).
Trying to memorize all of the drugs only made my head hurt. But once I started to understand why this drug or that drug worked, it wasn't that big of a deal anymore.
Ridryder911
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Not attempting to be rude, but if you really understand and knew the pharmacokinetics of the medications, then you would already have "all that information ". I am totally against medication cards, they produce mostly memorization and the simplistic basic .. contraindication, indications, method of usage, dosage, etc.. Knowing, the medication effect at a cellular level, as well how the medication effects the nervous, end site receptor site, distribution, and life span (as well as excretion) route is essential and without, one is really only guessing and barely have an understanding of the medication.
Pharmacology is probably one of the weaker subjects for most Paramedics, due to lack of needed physiology. I suggest anyone considering enrolling into a Paramedic course, please take an in-depth physiology as well if possible bio-chemistry course, it will pay off in the end.
R/r 911
Right there is probably the best advice you will ever recieve about medic school, I am in it now, about 3 months away from finishing and I wish that someone would have gave me that advice months ago.
Basically if you understand a&p becoming a medic will come second nature. Unlike me, I havent ever really taken any a&p besides what they teach you at the beginning of medic school so its still kicking my but to this day.
Bottom line, I think they need to make anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology prerequisites (spelling?) before entering medic class.
Kimmy Schaub
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Make flash cards with each medication, its indication, and its dose. Then study the flashcards.
Ridryder911
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Please don't...
You will be alike most other Paramedics and not have not a clue about Pharmodynamics and true Pharmacology. Wasting your time memorizing what can and cannot, is silly. Learn the basics of the autonomic nervous system, the basics of hormones and their roles in pharmacology and receptor sites. Then once you have done so, you will have a general understanding of almost all general medications.
Again, one of the reasons most Paramedics are weak (suck) at pharmacology...
R/r 911
Ridryder911
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Ridryder911
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piranah
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well what i need to know is as such
NAME/commercial name
CLASS:
Mechanism of action:
Indications:
Contraindications:
Adverse reactions:
how supplied:
dose and admin.:
special indications:
i have to know absolutely everything on every single drug you can give as a medic and allot more that you cant give but see allot that people are on.
NAME/commercial name
CLASS:
Mechanism of action:
Indications:
Contraindications:
Adverse reactions:
how supplied:
dose and admin.:
special indications:
i have to know absolutely everything on every single drug you can give as a medic and allot more that you cant give but see allot that people are on.