Step I No pharm class

[Bono]

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I just found out through some upper classman that our school doesnt have a pharm class. However, during the second year (systems approach in blocks) you do learn about different drugs as you go through each system. The upperclassman were saying that you learn what the drugs do but you dont learn as much as you would if you had a pharm class. The students usually study pharm topics on their own.

Anyway, i was just wandering what books i should use to study for the USMLE. How much pharm info is tested on the USMLE? Am i that much at a disadvantage b/c i do not have a pharm class? Thanks guys!!

-Bono 😴

 

[daisygirl]

I just found out through some upper classman that our school doesnt have a pharm class. However, during the second year (systems approach in blocks) you do learn about different drugs as you go through each system. The upperclassman were saying that you learn what the drugs do but you dont learn as much as you would if you had a pharm class. The students usually study pharm topics on their own.

Anyway, i was just wandering what books i should use to study for the USMLE. How much pharm info is tested on the USMLE? Am i that much at a disadvantage b/c i do not have a pharm class? Thanks guys!!

-Bono 😴

I don't think that you will be at a disadvantage. My school did teach pharm as a seperate class. Due to curricular changes, pharm next year will be taught similar to the way your school approaches pharm.

Learning the drugs as you go through systems may help the info stick since you are learning it in the context of the pathophysio. Pharm was torture for me since it was taught at the end of the year in my school, and by that time, I had forgotten a lot of pathophysio details needed to really understand just what was going on.

I'd recommend Lippicott's pharm text and pharm cards. I had both. I relied mainly on my class notes (keep in mind that this was an issue for me since our exams were being administered by phds and not mds). I annotated the crap out of my pharm cards and I would use Lippincott to clarify things for me.

I haven't taken step one yet, so I cannot give you advice on that. However, word is that first aid is plenty for the step one pharm. I did take a nbme shelf exam in pharm, and I can tell you that first aid was an excellent tool to use in preparing for the shelf (shelf questions are retired step one questions).

 

[Brian Pavlovitz]

I really enjoyed using Lippincott's Pharm during my Pharm class, but I primarily used First Aid to study for the USMLE. My questions seemed pretty basic, and First Aid covered them just fine.

Good luck!

 

[Stinger86]

Use First Aid for categorization, mechanism of action, and side effects of all the major drugs, and use Lippincott's for all the little details and filler (during your course)

 

[Bono]

Thanks guys!! I appreciate all the advice and i feel much better now!!!
-Bono 😱