When are we expected to learn medication dosages and amounts?

[exacto]

Current third year about half way through third year and I sill don't know hardly any med dosages...there are so many drugs that I forget how much and how many for each different drug. Are we expected to pick this up on our own or will residency be the time when the majority of this learning will happen???

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[honey0102]

Current third year about half way through third year and I sill don't know hardly any med dosages...there are so many drugs that I forget how much and how many for each different drug. Are we expected to pick this up on our own or will residency be the time when the majority of this learning will happen???

My attending pimps me on it now as a M3 so I guess now's a good time

 

[wanderingorion]

From what I can tell, residency

 

[Tenk]

You learn a decent amount during ms3/4 but mostly during residency.

 

[OrgoCoop]

You kinda pick it up along the way. Or you google it when you need to. Or you just look at your EMR's formulary which may have the dosage there for you. Or you ask the team pharmacist (ideally you have these). or you just pick a nice sounding whole number and hope it doesnt kill them (this is a joke, people).

 

[ciestar]

Residency is the bulk of it lol
I only know what i knew going into m3/4 because i worked as a pharm tech for years

Eitherway, ive used UpToDate for plenty of this stuff if i need it for abx and stuff

 

[akuko2]

tamsulosin 0.4mg QD
sildenafil 100mg PRN
tadalafil 5mg QD or 20mg PRN

You just learned them, now all you have to do is apply urology.

 

[Alienman52]

Current third year about half way through third year and I sill don't know hardly any med dosages...there are so many drugs that I forget how much and how many for each different drug. Are we expected to pick this up on our own or will residency be the time when the majority of this learning will happen???

Wondering this myself - following.


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[MedicineZ0Z]

It comes over time. As you prescribe things, you pick up on it.

 

[Sephirakra]

tamsulosin 0.4mg QD
sildenafil 100mg PRN
tadalafil 5mg QD or 20mg PRN

You just learned them, now all you have to do is apply urology.

Talk about your big dick energy...

 

[NickNaylor]

You will become more familiar with the medications that you see and use most commonly, which typically starts to occur in residency. As someone who supervises medical students, I expect that they might have a vague idea of the range of medication doses but I do not expect them to be familiar with the intricacies of dose titrations or to be able to recite FDA-recommended dose ranges for medications.

 

[AMEHigh]

I don’t expect med students to know doses. Mostly just general classes for common things.

I def picked up most of pharmacology in residency and still don’t hesitate to look things up when when I’m not sure/to double check.

 

[siliso]

Intern year or whenever you have to start ordering actual doses of medications.

 

[jurassicpark]

It takes time young padawan. I have my students for every patient they're assigned look at every drug, PRN order they have and how they are written, route, frequency and parameters. When they practice their admission orders I have them write everything out including what meds they want. Doesn't have to be right at all, but that's how to learn. My Resident did the same to me when I was an M3 and I'm very thankful to that son of a gun.

 

[mistafab]

Sub I is the time to learn, since you “should” be acting as an intern.

 

[thumbz]

Or challenge yourself to do it - you learn the doses by prescribing them. Rather than telling your attending "I recommend starting amlodipine" try "I recommend starting amlodipine 5mg".

It means you'll have to look up the doses. Get epocrates. Use it. Love it.

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

You’ll get comfortable with most common meds in residency, no reason to know it beforehand. And even in residency, every Hospital has resources and it doesn’t hurt to double check recommended dosages.

Nobody has ever said “wow what a good doctor, he/she knows the doses for so many medications without looking!!” There are so many more important things to learn.

 

[radsisrad]

PGY-1. It's nice if a med student is familiar with doses, but the silent consensus is that med student knowledge base is generally qualitative (e.g., what kind of medication), not quantitative.

 

[sliceofbread136]

There are better things to devote brain space to. Just lexicomp it.

the ones you order enough you’ll have memorized passively

 

[clinicallabguy]

You'll learn most of it during residency. And the process usually consists of the EMR giving you options, and then you look up on UpToDate or other source what the doses are for certain indications.

But you'll never stop learning it. You'll have a basic regimen of medications that you have dosages memorized, but for some other medications you use less often you'll have to look this stuff up repeatedly.

 

[mvenus929]

You learn with practice. I looked up dosing of every single medication I was prescribing/ordering until I remembered the dosing. It's more complicated in peds because we do weight based dosing, so it was good practice anyway. By the 5th order, I knew Tylenol was 15 mg/kg and ibuprofen was 10 mg/kg. Then you have to learn which formulations the pills come in, or what solutions are available for those who can't take pills. I prescribe Metformin semi-regularly and still have to look up what doses are available occasionally if I have a patient who isn't following my typical titration schedule.