The BEST WAY to study Pharm for Nursing School!

Okay, let's try to go live. Hello, everyone. Whoa. Flying solo today. I am flying solo. So stay tuned, friend. There might be a lot of, like, tech stuff that Christina has to work on today. So let's talk about pharmacology. How are y' all doing tonight? Fantastic. So sorry about the last couple weeks that typically Matthew and I go live on YouTube and Instagram together, usually on Mondays, except when we have the flu, which has been very frustrating the past couple of weeks because I did not know that the flu lasted that long for you to actually, like, feel terrible. You know, usually when we see people and we're taking care of people with the flu, it's like, well, you see them for a couple of days and then they go home and it's fine. That's not what happened with us. It took its sweet time working its way through our family. So we are. Well, I am back. Matthew is still recovering a little bit. Hello. Sweet. Scared of pharmacology. That's okay. We are gonna help you out. I say we, but that'll be me because Matthew will be back next week. Congratulations. Getting accepted in Nursing School. C1 1. So, friends, we are live on YouTube, at NursingsOS and on Instagram. NursingsOS. Because nursing SOS is our thing. Pharmacology. Pharmacology. Okay, now, where are you guys tuning in from? Where are you at? Where are you at in the world? Start block one in January. Congratulations. Exciting, exciting times. Let's see. So many of you are not. Susie, you're not doing well. When will the community open to accept people, people again? So our nursing SOS membership community will open. You know, actually, I don't have dates for that yet. I have to ask Puzzle Matthew question. So unfortunately he is not here right now. But stay tuned if you're. You should really be on the VIP list. If you want to know more about and get into the nursing SS membership community, definitely join the VIP list. It's at nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/join. So go there. It has all the information for you. So, so good. Actually, just got off a coaching call on Inside our membership community for our members and we were talking about study tips and everything and it was fantastic. So I highly, highly, highly recommend that you join because especially you guys with the NGN coming up and all of the changes in nursing school and the NCLEX and all the stuff, like, we are here to help you pass nursing school. That is what we do. So that is exactly what we do inside our Nursing SS membership community. So make sure that when enrollment opens that you join. Because enrollment only opens a couple times a year. It is not a whole. It's not open all the time. You do have to join when it is open. It is currently closing. Closed. Cleveland, Ohio. Hello, Canada. Hello, California. Canada. But you're Peruvian. Awesome. Delaware. Oh, finish the RN program here. Waiting to sit for the boards. Hooray. Congratulations, Tiara. Indonesia. Hello, India. South Africa. Philippines. Hooray. Matthew is Filipino. Shout out to Matthew. Arizona. Hello, Chicago. Augusta, Georgia. Okay, that's Instagram. Where are you at YouTube? Where are you guys? Excuse me. Philadelphia. Nashville, Tennessee. Las Vegas. Hello, everyone. New York, Maryland. Welcome, friends from all over the world. Which is super fun. Who gets the award for farthest away? Was that maybe India? Did I miss somebody? Philippines. That works. California. Texas. Okay, sweet. So pharmacology is something that everybody struggles with. So if you are really just. Well, first, if you're starting nursing school, please do not think that you have to know everything about everything about everything. For pharmacology, that is just not the case. As. As you progress in your program, you will start to learn your meds because simply for the sheer fact that you will be seeing them all of the time. Okay? So when you are learning pharmacology in nursing school, it can be really difficult to learn pharmacology from a textbook, right? Like, trying to learn it. Like, you're flipping through your med guide and you're like, I don't know what any of this means. And that's totally normal. As you do more clinicals, as you get more experience, as you see the meds over and over and over again and see what they are used for, and you know, the dosages and the side effects and all that stuff, and you will get more comfortable with it. So first things first. I really just. You just, like, let the weight go off of your shoulders. If you are feeling right now that you have to know everything about everything, it is just not true, friends. Okay? You don't have to know everything about everything in nursing school. That is not what is expected of you in nursing school. Okay? Okay. I feel like there's so much to review. I start to forget everything. 100% totally normal. Like I said, it's just. It's just a thing, right? In nursing school. Well, we were just talking about this with our nursing business members. It's like drinking from a fire hose. Everyone says that, right? And at nursing school really is. There's just so much information to know, so little time. But the really great thing is, is that the more you are exposed to things. You know, the more you see the meds at clinical, the more you learn about them in lecture class, the more you do all these things, it's really going to start to come together faster and you're going to understand, understand it a lot better. It's just how it is, which is really, really nice. As you go to clinical, take care of your patients and all of that, you will get more familiar with your meds. Now, with that said, there are some really, really great tips that you do need to know about for pharmacology. So the first thing that I do not want you to forget, okay, excuse me, I am getting over the flu. That is a bummer. But just so you know, if I cough, that is why it was a real bummer the past couple weeks. But we are on the mend. Okay, friends, first tip. Do not forget this, okay? Especially when you are going to take your exams, do not forget this. You have to know the generic name of your medications. So when you are studying pharmacology, you will notice that there's a lot of different names for all the meds. And you know, really 2. Generic name and trade name. And you do the trade name, you can know that's fine. But you like, it's optional. The trade name is optional. The generic name is not optional. Because when you go and take your nursing school exam, they are going to always include the generic name, but not necessarily the trade name. Okay? So your exam will definitely include the generic name, but it may or may not include the trade name. And the last thing that you want to happen, my friends, is when you get to your exam and them to ask you a question about a medication and you not know it simply because you didn't know what medication they were asking you about. Right. Like, we need to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success as much as possible, which means to know the generic name. So make sure that you know the generic name for all of your medications and not just the trade name. Like the trade name is fine. If you want to know the trade names too, that's okay. But you've got to know the generic name as well. Well, do you feel like there's certain trade names specifically we should learn once we are in the field because they're more commonly referenced by patients. So, Sarah, that is a huge thing. Yeah. So, okay, just in nursing, you basically have like two things in your mind when you're a nurse. You have the medical side and then you have the patient side. And. And you do have to know both. So, you know, patients aren't going to necessarily know like, oh, what Bruce might as, you know, but they're going to know Lasix, you know, especially if they're on it. Right. Like so, yes, Sarah, you will. You should know both for your patients, simply because patients are going to use more of the colloquial terms. The layman's terms, I guess, is the other way to say that. And you know, we obviously need to educate our patients in the best way that we can. And to do that, we have to break down the medical terminology and the medical stuff in a way that they can better understand it. And so, yes, knowing both the generic and the trade name can be helpful for that. It's just. Yeah, so you kind of have like two brains. Right. But for your exams, you actually don't need to know the trade name. So it's kind of a little secret that not very many people know about. Your exams will always include the generic name, but not always the trade name. They might not. They may or may not include the trade name, but they will always include the generic name. And that is that it includes the nclex as well. So when you go take the ngn. When you go take the. The nclex, yes, you will have to know the generic name of all of the medications, not just the trade name, because they may or may not include the training. So yes, Chloe, nclex or exit exam tips. That is a huge one because like I said, friends, I just don't want you to get to your exam and have studied all of this pharmacology and know it really well and. And then just get tripped up on a word. Right. That's not like. No. Right. You know it. Okay, so just make sure that you know the right names of the medication. Yes. What about Med Surge? Any tips for that? Med Surge and pharmacology go hand in hand. Well, pharmacology and nursing school really go hand in hand when you are studying med surge. Kind of like I said before, you guys, as you are progressing through your program, you know, fundamentals to med Surge, you know, you'll do a mental health rotation in there, you'll do pediatrics, maybe ob. You'll do all these things as you progress through your program, especially as you progress through med surg, Advanced Med Surge and critical care and all that, you are going to have such a better understanding of pharmacology and med surgeon pharm really are so tightly linked. You are going to learn so much farm in Med surge and met Pharmacology for med surge is a huge deal. Like, you have to know. You have to know pharmacology as you are studying med surg. Because. Because there's just such a huge emphasis on it, right? Like, this is kind of what we do as nurses. We know meds and we give them all the time. Yes. So that was tip number one for pharmacology. Now tip number two for pharmacology. I know that this is not very popular. Okay, I'm gonna say it anyway. You need to know one thing for pharmacology for your medications. Well, the generic name and then also the mechanism of action. You have to, you have to put so much emphasis on the mechanism of action, you guys, because that is the foundation for everything else that you have to know about the medications that you're learning about. So when you go, when you know, when you're in nursing school, your instructors are going to tell you to know all the side effects about the meds, how to give them administration and the contraindications and all of the things. Like they're going to tell you to know all of this stuff, the dosing, the safe ranges, right. For pediatrics and all the stuff I am here to tell you. The number one thing that you need to know for your meds is the mechanism of action. Because how the med acts in the body, that is what's going to drive everything else. It's, it's. So instead of memorizing a list of side, of the side effects, you are going to understand the mechanism of action first and then you can connect the side effects back to that mechanism of action. And this, my friends, is what critical thinking is all about. So in nursing school, you know, you know, you guys, that you are not going to be tested on how well you memorize a list of stuff, right? Like, that is just not how nursing school works at all, right? When you go take your exams, your instructors are going to test you on how well you critically think about stuff, not about how well you memorized a list of stuff. That's not how it works. So when you are studying, you have to put such a huge emphasis on critical thinking, actually applying what you are learning, understanding, understanding what you are learning. So you are not just, you know, stuck in this stage of just trying to memorize lists. Because here's what's going to happen, okay? When you are at your exam, this happens all the time for pharmacology, when you are taking your exam and you get a select all that apply question and that select all that apply Question says something like, what are some common side effects that you might see with this medication? You cannot be the person who memorized a list of side effects for that medication, because invariably there will be side effects on there that are correct but were not part of the list that you memorized. But they're still correct, but you didn't memorize that. This is where critical thinking comes in. Once you know the mechanism of action, how the med acts in. In the body, then you can, you know, figure out, okay, so here's how the med X. Now I can see, okay, how, what are the. What are the side effects that could possibly happen with that med acting that way? Okay, is there a site that explains mechanism of action in a very understandable way? Yes. Nursing sos. Whoa. Shameless bug right there. Okay, so go to nursing schoolofsuccess.com join and sign up for the VIP list for our membership community. Because we have an entire database of medications inside the community for you. That walks you through the mechanism of action very, very simply for all the meds you need to know. And we walk you through the critical thinking for your meds. Like, critical thinking is everything in nursing school. So we do not leave you hanging. We do it for you. Like we do the hard work for you. Friends, if you are struggling with critical thinking, you absolutely want to join the nursing Essence membership community. Jennifer, hello, my friend. What do we do when there are several meds with the same mechanism of action? Beautiful question. I love this question, Jennifer, because that tells me that you know what a medication class is, right? What is a class of meds? Now, a class of meds is exactly that, Jennifer. It is a group of medications. So pharmacologic class or therapeutic class, A group of medications that act the same way or similar in the body, they have a same or similar mechanism of action. Sharina 100% group them by class. Now, you guys, what a great segue, because that is tip number three. Make sure that you are grouping your meds by class because you do not want to be learning 12 medications with all, you know, 12, 12 medications when you can just group them into one. That is would be a huge waste of time, right? Like if you could do a twelfth of the work that you're doing now, wouldn't you want to take me up on that? That's how this works. So when you are studying your meds, you want to make sure that you are grouping them by pharmacologic class. Ideally, pharmacologic class means that they have the same mechanism of action. Therapeutic Class will mean that they have a similar mechanism of action so that they act similar in the body. So when you group your meds by class, then that is going to save you so much time studying, seeking. Hello, Nursing SOS pharmacology database is a lifesaver. I'm so glad it has been helpful for you. Let's see. All right, my farm exam. Farm. Sorry, Jennifer fought. My farm 2 exam is in a couple weeks. Hooray. All the meds for the test seem to have the same mechanism of action. Yeah, they might, because, like, well, beta blockers, if you send one on Instagram, I think you asked for an example. Beta blockers is a fantastic example, right? Because most people know about what you know. If you're in fundamentals, you've probably heard of beta blockers. So beta blockers is the pharmacologic class. It's a group of medications. And, you know, basically beta blockers are going to block the betas. They are going to just bring down the blood pressure, bring down the heart rate. So high level, right? High level mechanism of action. So there are a whole lot of medications inside the beta blocker class. Right? They end in olol. Okay, you guys, Metoprolol, Atenolol, Carvedilol. Like, there's a bunch of them. So. Excuse me, Flu, blech. There's a bunch. And. And so when you learn them by medication class, pharmacologic therapeutic class, then you can learn them as a group and not have to, you know, memorize them all individually. Yes. Cardiac meds. Absolutely, Jennifer. So when you know the class, when you know the mechanism of action of that medication class, then you automatically know that mechanism of action of all the meds within that class. Right? So instead of learning, oh, here's what carved alol does, and here's what atenolol does. Do. Here's what Atenolol does. Yeah. Okay. Here's what carvedilol does. Here's what Atenolol does. Instead of memorizing them individually or learning them individually, you can just say, hey, here's what beta blockers do. And now you know also what metoprolol does. You know, you've got it, you've got it down. Because then anything in that class, you will. You will know what they do. So that is why this is so, so important. The mechanism of action all starts there, grouping them by medication class. Does that make sense, my friends? Okay, so generic name. You've got to make sure that you know the generic name of the medication, not just the trade Names, Okay? Simply because, like, the nclex, you guys, I cannot tell you how many times this happens to nursing students when you get to the exam, like, you study pharmacology so so much. And then you get to the exam and it's like, well, I didn't know that word. Like, they throw a name at you, right? They throw a medication name and you just, you've never heard of it before, maybe because you just didn't pay attention to that generic name. Because your nursing exams and the nclex, you guys write the ngn, they are always going to include the generic name, not always the trade name. Okay? Keep that in mind. Please, please, please, just don't get tripped up by it. Okay? Always, always, always know the generic name. Jennifer, you say? Yes, yes. Mechanism of action and the region of where the Met is acting kind of throws me off. Yes. Well, it's important to know that's really the struggle too, Sandia. That is the struggle, really, because when you are reading textbooks and stuff and they throw out that mechanism of action to you and it's written in all this, like, crazy medical jargon that can be difficult to understand. So that is actually why I really, really encourage you to get inside the nursing ESSENCE membership community the next time enrollment opens. Because, friends, we break it down for you in very, very simple terms what the mechanism of action of these meds is like, how does this actually act in the body in a way that you can actually understand it? Right? Like, that is the point. I do not want you to have to figure out everything by yourself in nursing school. That is absolutely not what we do here. We are here to hold your hand through nursing school and help you through it every step of the way. So that's exactly what we do inside the nursing membership community. I know we have several members on right now. You guys, thank you so much for joining. You are awesome. First off. But yes, everyone who is not a member, you are going to absolutely love it because it is so, so helpful. You don't have to figure everything out yourself in nursing school, because who wants to do that? Like, nobody, right? So when you're studying pharmacology, if you're confused about it at all, like, just ask. We are here for you inside the community. You in this community are definitely my saving grace. I'm so, so glad, Jennifer. So you guys, next week. So, like I was saying, so, so sorry that we have been. Matthew and I have been out the past couple of weeks. We genuinely, like our family, got clobbered with the flu. So we are just coming back now. I actually posted on Instagram yesterday. And we are back with our lives. So Matthew should be back next week after he gets a little bit better. More so next week, what do you want to talk about on our live videos? That is my next question. Question. What topic? Like, what are you guys studying in school right now? What do you need the most help with? Do you want study tips? Do you want med search tips? Fundamentals tips? Do you want. You want to talk about motivation, like time management? What do you want? What would be the most helpful for you for me to talk about next week on our live. Oh, TZ Maternity. Sarah. Hello, Sarah. J. J. Hello, J. And J. Oh, sorry, I lost yours because comments came so fast. There's lots. Yeah, lots of meds. Even with the classes, it's still hard. I don't know if I'm doing it right or not. Well, you gotta make sure you're following the tips that I just laid out in this video. JJ so, so helpful. You really make sure that you know the mechanism of action. I think that's really the name of the game. Med surge and EKG Study tips. Hi, Mark for Joe's. Nice to see you. Med surge. Medsurg. Wow. Lots of med surge. Community health. Oh, community health. That's my jam. Study tips. Thank you. Nclex practice study tips. I think we're going to split on study tips and med surg. So let's do this, friends. Next week, let's do both of them kind of wrapped together. Okay. Because a lot of the med search tips that I have, they are like general study tips as well. So I think that'll be really, really helpful for you. So next week, Monday. I don't know what day that is. What is that? Like this? It's the seventh. Okay, thank you. It is the seventh. Monday, the seventh. Matthew should be back because you guys, right, we all love Matthew. Matthew should be back here on the live video with me, which is actually just, you know, it's. It makes it way more fun for me. We will talk about study tips and med surge next week. Okay, So I will tell Matthew. He will schedule it on YouTube. So everyone always asks for the replay. So the replay to these live videos is always. The full video is up on YouTube. It's just a lot easier to find than Instagram because Instagram's kind of weird. Like with the videos and stuff, it just gets lost. And anyway, just go to YouTube if you want to catch the replays and all the replays for previous lives. Actually, several Weeks ago we talked about the NGN which was so helpful. So you guys just go back on our YouTube channel if you need any help until next week. We are here. Go to YouTube.com nursingsos and then of course follow me on Instagram this week on Instagram we will be talking about some things as well. I think I will probably talk about med surg as well on Instagram in my stories this week. Okay, Peanut girl. Hello. What time? What time next week? Let's see, Monday. If I get my time zones right. I think it's 6 and 6. 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern on Mondays. I think I got that right. Okay. 6:30. So like this time right? Right. 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern. So what time is it Eastern right now? Time 10. Right. I think I'm right. I think I got my time zones right. But I am not very good at time zones. So next week, yes, Matthew and I will be here. We'll talk about med surg and study tips, you guys. So thank you for hanging out with me tonight on the Live. We will see you next week now that we are hooray healthy again. So yep, follow me on Instagram because this week I'm going to be talking about several things over on Instagram. I have a lot to talk about and a lot to catch up on because we have been so sick for so long and I am so done being sick. I am ready to be back. So you guys, thank you so much for hanging out with me. We will see you next week. Monday. I think I got that right. 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern. Okay. Yeah, right now, Jennifer, it's 7:00 clock Pacific right now. Yes. So then we start at 6:30 Pacific next week. Okay, we got time zones down, guys. All right, we will see you next week. Take care. You guys have a fantastic week. Follow me on my stories because I will be talking about more nursing school study tips this week. Hooray. Okay, take care friends. Bye bye.