For those of you taking Pharmacology, this explains a lot

[Goro]

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[altblue]

Fast forward to M3 and suddenly the trade names are the hard part

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Fast forward to M3 and suddenly the trade names are the hard part

Wait, what do you mean? M2 here.

 

[altblue]

Wait, what do you mean? M2 here.

Attendings patients and residents generally say the brand names lol, even though we learn just the generic names during preclinical

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Attendings patients and residents generally say the brand names lol, even though we learn just the generic names during preclinical

Thank you for answering. I hate this information.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Thank you for answering. I hate this information.

The fun part is when everyone says the brand names irl but they give you crap for not using the generic names in your note.

 

[YCAGA]

The fun part is when everyone says the brand names irl but they give you crap for not using the generic names in your note.

And then after a year of that crap, shelfs and Step 2 are back to generics

 

[thumbz]

Med student: We should use fidaxomicin
Me (in my head): What the hell is that?
Pharmacist on rounds seeing my face: *whispers* Dificid

 

[Dral]

I hated pharm with all my being...from the bottom of my black heart.

We had charts that had columns with MoE, SEs, etc. I always told people make up jibberish words, then associate random things with it...it might as well be a color or an object...then memorize it. That's what pharm was to me (extreme visual thinker).

Cardolevilatide.......lamp.........violet.........diarrhea
Dofelanonidalol.........kitten..........orange..........headache
Juvalaneletidealam............computer........turquoise..........fingertip pain
Taledilinonab.............sadness...........blue.........consider dropping out of med school



Now memorize those and spit them back out on the exam. *shudder*

 

[Goro]

I hated pharm with all my being...from the bottom of my black heart.

We had charts that had columns with MoE, SEs, etc. I always told people make up jibberish words, then associate random things with it...it might as well be a color or an object...then memorize it. That's what pharm was to me (extreme visual thinker).

Cardolevilatide.......lamp.........violet.........diarrhea
Dofelanonidalol.........kitten..........orange..........headache
Juvalaneletidealam............computer........turquoise..........fingertip pain
Taledilinonab.............sadness...........blue.........consider dropping out of med school



Now memorize those and spit them back out on the exam. *shudder*

And explain their modes of action!

 

[theendisnigh]

When I had to learn a drug named ABCiximab I nearly threw my laptop as a near-jerk reaction

 

[Bonne Nuit]

So, I need real talk from you guys. I only know enough about the drug names to pick them out of an MCQ lineup. How do I not look like a total idiot when I start clinical rotations in a few months? If asked by a preceptor about a drug, I can’t very well say: “Rifamixenoleoquine.... or something like that? I don’t know. It was the bumblebee in the tuxedo on Sketchy.”

How do you get better at this? Is it just exposure?

 

[ginsengreset]

So, I need real talk from you guys. I only know enough about the drug names to pick them out of an MCQ lineup. How do I not look like a total idiot when I start clinical rotations in a few months? If asked by a preceptor about a drug, I can’t very well say: “Rifamixenoleoquine.... or something like that? I don’t know. It was the bumblebee in the tuxedo on Sketchy.”

How do you get better at this? Is it just exposure?

My approach to unfamiliar drugs:

It's helpful to read the names starting in the stem, especially for monoclonal antibodies. There's several good tables showing how mabs are named that you can find on Google images, and knowing how to divide the name up (e.g. the previously mentioned abciximab into ab|ci|xi|mab (ab- prefix | targeting circulatory system | chimeric | monoclonal antibody) makes it a lot less intimidating. I did this extra bit of work when my school first started throwing the names of mabs at me and it saved me a ton of headache later on.

The same strategy (identifying the prefix vs the stem) also helps for a lot of other meds and their pronunciation. You'll see the fluoroquinolones (e.g. moxifloxacin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin) often end in -floxacin, and my approach is to learn to say and pronounce the stem, and append the (oftentimes much easier) prefix to that.

Sometimes this means looking at unrelated drugs. I was confused for the longest time about how to process and say the name of levetiracetam, and then I looked up related drugs (e.g. piracetam, oxiracetam) and realized that "leve-" just specified the isomer and the base stem name was actually pretty easy to pronounce (-tiracetam). But honestly, during rounds, you're 100% better off just saying Keppra.

 

[Phloston]

Are we really doing clickbait here.

 

[Dral]

When I had to learn a drug named ABCiximab I nearly threw my laptop as a near-jerk reaction

Not like it makes it much easier, but I got annoyed with those less when I learned that they actually go with an established naming system.

Monoclonal Antibodies: How to Navigate the Naming Scheme

Monoclonal antibodies are a relatively new class of biologic agents.

www.pharmacytimes.com