Pretest for Pharmacology – NCLEX Review (Nursing)

00:00 Hi, welcome to our pharmacology review. I am so excited that you're here.

00:06 Now, I get it. I'm likely way more excited about pharmacology than you are but my goal is at the end of this time, you're gonna be ready.

00:15 Ready for your pharmacology final exam or for the NCLEX. So let's get started.

00:22 Now, here's one of the first things I want you to do.

00:24 I want you to take a pharmacology pre-test.

00:27 Now, give it your best. It's only gonna take you about 10 minutes.

00:30 Well, it's gonna take you exactly 10 minutes because we're gonna show you a question on each slide and we're gonna give you 60 seconds per question to answer that question.

00:40 So these are 10 exam level or NCLEX level application and analysis questions in pharmacology.

00:48 Are you ready? Alright, grab something to write with so you can mark your answers as you go.

10:54 Welcome back. I know that can take a lot of effort even just doing 10 questions but I'm not gonna give you the answer to those now.

11:03 As we go throughout the sections in the review, I'll show you how to answer those questions because I want you to learn that when you're reviewing, how do you take that information and make it pay off on an exam.

11:16 I know sometimes that is the number one frustration of students but they feel like there's a big gap between how much they're studying and their actual grade.

11:25 So I'm gonna help you raise that grade and prep for whatever type exam you're facing on pharmacology.

11:31 So here's some tips and some strategies.

11:34 So first of all, don't try to memorize every drug.

11:39 I know people say memorization is all pharmacology is.

11:42 Really isn't. It's clinical decision-making but there's no way a human brain could memorize everything.

11:49 So I want you to think of the categories as a family.

11:53 So don't memorize every individual ACE inhibitor, memorize them as a family.

11:58 So when you think about adverse effects and side effects, think of them as a group.

12:03 Overall, what is involved with the ACE inhibitors.

12:06 Now, well, here's a clue. I'm gonna let you know what some of the key concepts are.

12:11 But this is just a review but I promise if you'll invest the time in the content we present here, you're gonna be well-prepared for whatever you're facing.

12:21 Now, we think about beta blockers as a family, we think about anti-psychotics as a family.

12:26 We're gonna touch on all these groups but I want you to try and stop memorizing individual drugs.

12:32 Think of them as a member of a family.

12:34 Now, you do need to recognize drug names and the generic name for sure because that's what you'll see on NCLEX.

12:41 Now, on each individual nursing program, you may or may not see both but for the NCLEX, you need to know the generic name.

12:48 Now, what are key side effects to look for because there's like, a million? First tip, you learn them as a family. Cool, you got that.

12:57 Second tip, if it damages an organ, that's what you wanna look for.

13:02 So the most severe or organ damaging side effects are key.

13:07 So we got a list of 4,000 side effects.

13:10 You're looking for anything that is severe, that's gonna life threatening, or that's gonna damage an organ.

13:16 Make sure you know those cold.

13:18 I will point those out as we go through the content that we're also gonna deliver today but keep in mind, there's no way you can memorize everything so we're gonna help you prioritize and know what's most important for you to look at.

13:33 So watch for this icon. We've put this is as you see it up in the corner.

13:37 You see the 60 second overview.

13:40 That's gonna tell you wow, these are great summary slides but also, these are really important slides to be sure that you're very familiar with the information on that particular slide.

13:51 I know you'll see a lot of slides but look for this icon and that will remind you that's a quick refresher.

13:57 When you look at that, those are short notes and you ask yourself if you really have that content down.

14:02 Do you know how this information will help you as a nurse keep the patient safe?