Help needed for Pharmacology

[peace zealot]

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I need your advise for how to start with Pharmacology.We are done with General Pharma and have started ANS in Pharma.Please tell me how I should work to make good concepts in Pharma and how to memorize it.

 

[mjl1717]

I need your advise for how to start with Pharmacology.We are done with General Pharma and have started ANS in Pharma.Please tell me how I should work to make good concepts in Pharma and how to memorize it.

For starters:
Know category, mechanism of action, side effects and major drug interreactions. Make index cards or make specific lists in a note book..

 

[Blade28]

What study methods/techniques have worked for you in the past? Reviewing notes? Highlighting textbooks? Making flashcards? Study groups? Audio/video lectures?

I ask because you've created similar threads in the past (phys, path, forensics, biochem, etc.). Have you found a method that works best for you?

I worry a little since you seem to be constantly stressed out.

 

[medstylee]

if you're doing autonomics, make sure you really have a good grasp on where all the various receptors are found - ie, where you'll find alpha-1, beta-1, beta-2, muscarinic, etc. i found it helpful to try and get a good grasp on the specific classes of drugs. so, if you know the common anti-cholinergic side effects, you don't necessarily have to go and memorize the list of side effects of each anticholinergic drug you learn about, just the quirky ones that pertain to specific drugs.

 

[MattD]

if you're doing autonomics, make sure you really have a good grasp on where all the various receptors are found - ie, where you'll find alpha-1, beta-1, beta-2, muscarinic, etc. i found it helpful to try and get a good grasp on the specific classes of drugs. so, if you know the common anti-cholinergic side effects, you don't necessarily have to go and memorize the list of side effects of each anticholinergic drug you learn about, just the quirky ones that pertain to specific drugs.

Right, with the autonomics you're not going to see a lot of weird toxicities, most of the side effects aren't really side effects, they're just the effect of the drug on receptors away from the site you're trying to treat. If you know the location and action of the receptors, all the side effects will make sense. Then you just have to remember which receptors drug X act on, and if it's an agonist or antagonist, etc.

 

[peace zealot]

What study methods/techniques have worked for you in the past? Reviewing notes? Highlighting textbooks? Making flashcards? Study groups? Audio/video lectures?

I ask because you've created similar threads in the past (phys, path, forensics, biochem, etc.). Have you found a method that works best for you?

I worry a little since you seem to be constantly stressed out.

The thing that works the best for me is first study from a book(not a concise one) and then put the key points on a paper.As its not possible to do with the whole course so highlighting the book helps too.For pharmacology there would be a lot of drugs and at the end of the day all will be mixed up.So I was thinking if I can make tables or short notes( like most of people do for physio of endocrinology)These things help the most,if anybody can give an idea how to make such tables or notes but at the same time keeping in mind teh time factor.Any books you can suggest?

 

[MSKalltheway]

Any books you can suggest?

If you are looking for a non-concise one, Lange's Basic & Clinical Pharm, 7th ed. is very good, I find that it explains things very well when im left scratching my head after lecture. I saw that one of my friends had a baby Lange Pharm book (Katzung and Trevor) that was more concise, but its more for board review and has questions as well, I believe.

 

[DrFraud]

If you are looking for a non-concise one, Lange's Basic & Clinical Pharm, 7th ed. is very good, I find that it explains things very well when im left scratching my head after lecture. I saw one of my friends have a baby Lange Pharm book (Katzung and Trevor) that was more concise, but its more for board review and has questions as well I believe.

Yeah, the small Katzung book - I thought it had the best questions. I wish I had more time to go through it b-4 exams.
.

 

[Scottish Chap]

I need your advise for how to start with Pharmacology.We are done with General Pharma and have started ANS in Pharma.Please tell me how I should work to make good concepts in Pharma and how to memorize it.

Never memorize - this is how students get mixed up in pharmacology. Start by learning and remembering all the receptor subtypes and signal transduction pathways in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems; this is where many drugs work. Understand and remember the common places where drugs bind and the effect they have: on receptors, on enzymes, on transporters, on ion channels etc. Do the same for all the other receptors: for histamine, serotonin, dopamine, steroids etc. This way, you'll always know what the drug does in most tissues and you'll often be able to predict the side effects. Try to be systematic: learn and remember the receptor that the drug operates through, remember the post-receptor signal transduction pathway, and remember the common side effects for that drug class. This way, you'll understand and not have to rely on memory. Also, look for for common endings for drug names; this does not always work, but it will get you on track most times.

 

[peace zealot]

Thanks I think this is going to help me a lot.At least I have got an outline how to start up.

 

[sickchick]

pharma i hate....this is my pharma year...im in 3rd yr rite now..

so suggestions welcomed...i think katzung is too big 4 a weakling like me to put in my head....

and lippincott is too simple 4 a complicated person like me to go thru...

mini katzung wud suffice to pass...combined with helping books..😳

 

[mjl1717]

Never memorize - this is how students get mixed up in pharmacology. Start by learning and remembering all the receptor subtypes and signal transduction pathways in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems; this is where many drugs work. Understand and remember the common places where drugs bind and the effect they have: on receptors, on enzymes, on transporters, on ion channels etc. Do the same for all the other receptors: for histamine, serotonin, dopamine, steroids etc. This way, you'll always know what the drug does in most tissues and you'll often be able to predict the side effects. Try to be systematic: learn and remember the receptor that the drug operates through, remember the post-receptor signal transduction pathway, and remember the common side effects for that drug class. This way, you'll understand and not have to rely on memory. Also, look for for common endings for drug names; this does not always work, but it will get you on track most times.

Yes, this receptor and signal transduction pathway strategy IS another good way of encompassing it (even at the molecular level)..

 

[almd2011]

Need your opinion on a combined class and review book..Our school suggest Rang and Dale's, Principles of Pharmacology-Golan with the workbook (seems like a great book for integration) or Katzung. Katzung seems to be the favorite but any suggestions on the rest? thanks..

 

[radslooking]

i can't say state specific ANS study topics for pharm, but I will some general study topics that work for me. In general, a good strategy is to learn concepts and principles as much as possible and memorize as a last resort.

If you keep asking "why?" in your head constantly as you read information, you will stumble across principles that explain a lot of things, even if they weren't explicitly stated by the lecturer, or the book. I find that people oftentimes will give you a collection of facts, and not tell you the principles behind it. Either because they don't know, or they just neglect it, or are just subpar teachers. Keep looking for connections between information as you study.

Memorize as a last resort. For pharm, unfortunately, there can be more of this than most areas of medicine. Certain side effects (metabolic acidosis for metformin) or (red man syndrome for vanco) are not principles that can be applied across classes of drugs. Those sorts of things you just need to memorize. I found this slightly frustrating about pharm.

Lastly, keep the big picture in mind. Always. Tough to do when people are asking you minutiae, but it will help you in the end.

And if you were a good studier, then you'd been very impressed with what I just wrote, but you'd also review it, since repetition is the final piece to make it stick 😉 concepts...memorize as last resort...pharm has more random details than most...keep the big picture in mind...🙂

 

[radslooking]

Also, another general principle that works for me-

memorized information i find is best looked at RIGHT before a test. i have trouble remembering things that don't apply to general rules. at least i have a faint imprint on my brain still left when i take the test.