![\"pharmacology\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.picmonic.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pharmacology_small.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhy is Pharmacology Challenging for Nursing Students?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pharmacology for nursing students is challenging for a multitude of reasons. If you know, you know<\/em>, but if you don\u2019t, read below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nursing students have to memorize drugs<\/a>, their side effects, their classes, and more. It\u2019s a lot of information to digest at once, and students need to grasp each concept quickly to succeed in their pharmacology course and in nursing school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nursing students must learn how to calculate drug dosages to ensure patients receive the correct amount of medication\u2014not too little and not too much. A dosage mistake (or administration mistake) is extremely dangerous and has the potential to end your nursing career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another area where there is no room for error is your understanding of drug interactions and classifications. Nursing students learn the importance of how drugs interact within the human body and with other medications. Generally, you need a good grasp of biology and chemistry to master this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nursing students must keep ethics, patient rights, and patient safety top of mind. It\u2019s critical to avoid errors and follow the proper protocols when applying your knowledge in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nursing students need to know which drug to prescribe, how much of it to administer, how often the patient needs it, and the correct method of administration. Not only that, but nurses must also provide accurate documentation when administering medication. This is otherwise known as the rights of medication administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmacology review for nurses starts with the basics. Nail these to make studying a breeze!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning medications as a nurse will get easier once you study drug classes. Each drug is categorized into a class based on its effects on the body, chemical structure, or use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MOA refers to how a drug produces an effect within the body, which you must know before administering a medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The five rights will keep your patient safe. Always ensure it\u2019s the correct drug, dose, route, time, and patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understand how the body interacts with the drug after it\u2019s administered! This is how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes the drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognize the overall effects of drugs within the body. You\u2019ll need to learn how it binds to receptors, post-receptor effects, and chemical reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A patient\u2019s genes may affect their response to a medication. If you know your patient has a genetic mutation, consider the implications of pharmacogenetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wouldn\u2019t be a pharmacology study guide for nursing students without a few study strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make a study group with your peers, visit office hours, ask questions in online forums, or download a free ebook online. There are tons of resources that nursing students can use to study pharmacology.If you need a place to get started, explore here first<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re having trouble concentrating or feeling motivated to learn about medications in nursing, then it\u2019s time to switch up your approach. Use the chart included in our \u201cHow to Ace Pharmacology in Nursing School<\/a>\u201d blog to match your learning style to the suggested learning activity. If it\u2019s something new, it may just become your tried-and-true study method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mnemonics, or even better, picture mnemonics! Thousands of nursing students use Picmonic to study pharmacology, watching fun, whacky characters in short, memorable videos to master all the need-to-knows of pharmacology. Picmonic\u2019s extensive picture mnemonic library has 300+ pharmacology mnemonics <\/a>to help improve knowledge, retention, and exam performance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may not be your favorite subject, but math is important for drug dosage calculations. Practice scenarios and other real-world situations you may face to ace this part of your pharmacology course. A handy tool we\u2019ll mention in this nursing pharmacology study guide is Medscape\u2019s drug dosage calculator<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another \u201cpractice makes perfect\u201d tip here. In addition to calculating drug dosages, you should use mock scenarios and practice examples to nail the nursing rights of medication administration. You’ll remember the rights, practice them, and learn how to apply them all at once, preparing you for success in pharmacology and your future nursing career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have a few study strategies that work for you, then it\u2019s time to hit the books. You can read the following books and study them alongside Picmonic\u2019s visual learning system, allowing you to study, review, and quiz yourself to remember more in less time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmacology for Nurses – A Pathophysiologic Approach, 6th Ed., Adams, Holland & Urban<\/a>: A holistic approach to pharmacology, this book links pharmacology to therapeutic goals and has 300+ Picmonics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmacology: A Patient-Centered Nursing Process Approach 10th Ed., McCuistion<\/a>: With guidance to help you get NCLEX\u00ae-ready, this book supplies prototype drug charts and has over 400+ Picmonics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmacology and the Nursing Process, 9th Ed., Lilley, Rainforth Collins & Snyder<\/a>: Learn how to safely and effectively administer medications in this book, and tap into 300+ complementary Picmonics when you sign up for Picmonic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lehne’s Pharmacology for Nursing Care, 11th Ed., Burchum & Rosenthal<\/a>: Described as a student-favorite, this book is written by nursing educators to help pharmacology be more approachable. This has 300+ Picmonics in the Picmonic library!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you\u2019re studying for your pharmacology course or the NCLEX, our study guide\u2019s got your back. Here are a few more resources you can use!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need an easy-to-use NCLEX question bank<\/a>? TrueLearn\u2019s just the tool for you. Their SmartBank contains more than 1,000 questions mapped to the NCLEX-RN blueprint, and you can create your very own digital flashcards within the platform to memorize drugs and other key pharmacology concepts for the exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This free guide<\/a> from A Nurse in the Making is the perfect cheat sheet for dosage calculations, drug prefixes and suffixes, abbreviations, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picmonic is the only visual mnemonic learning tool that\u2019s research proven<\/a> to improve retention and test scores. In addition to our extensive pharmacology library, Picmonic can be utilized throughout your nursing school career. From clinicals to the NCLEX\u00ae and beyond, Picmonic is there to support you every step of the way and help you become the best nurse you can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picmonic features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Large amounts of information <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Dosage calculations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Drug interactions and classes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Application of knowledge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Drug administration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Key Pharmacology Concepts to Review and Master <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Drug classes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mechanism of action (MOA)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Rights of medication administration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pharmacokinetics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pharmacodynamics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pharmacogenetics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Study Strategies to Use for Pharmacology in Nursing School <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Strategy 1: Utilize your peers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Strategy 2: Change your study style<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Strategy 3: Mnemonics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"mnemonic\"](\"https:\/\/www.picmonic.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/visual-mnemonics-1024x365.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nStrategy 4: Practice math<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Strategy 5: Model real-life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pharmacology Books to Use as a Resource<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"picmonic](\"https:\/\/cdn.picmonic.com\/wp-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/textbooks1-1024x816-1.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAdditional Pharmacology Resources for Nursing Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
TrueLearn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Nurse in the Making Cheat Sheet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Picmonic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n