I realize that there are atleast 700 different drugs in a retail setting. How detailed should a pharmacists knowledge about a drug be?How do you guys learn all these drugs? I heard about drug families and classes. But I dont quite understand how drug families and classes makes it easier to learn about the different drugs. What is the format and methodology of learning in pharmacy school? Is it very important to master organic chemistry?
How many drugs and how?
- Thread starter ckv34l
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When I was interning at Rite Aid last summer, I was working with a pharm student from UCSF. She was carrying around the same pamphlet I was using to do inventory (generic to brand name conversions). I asked her what she was doing with it and she said she had to memorize all of these drugs and their generic names by a certain time. Like the first 1/4 of the pamphlet by year 1 and so on.
Another pharm tech also used flash cards to memorize the drugs and its effects. Then the pharmacist was being helpful during his downtime and quizzed him.
But other than that, I have no idea how pharmacists (or pharm. students) memorize all those drugs. But I do know my pharmacist (60 yrs old or so) knew everything in his store.
Another pharm tech also used flash cards to memorize the drugs and its effects. Then the pharmacist was being helpful during his downtime and quizzed him.
But other than that, I have no idea how pharmacists (or pharm. students) memorize all those drugs. But I do know my pharmacist (60 yrs old or so) knew everything in his store.
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From work, the only way to remember each of these drugs is by working, touching and seeing all these drugs everyday. In addition most retail pharmacist know the drugs in the retail setting better while hospital pharmacist know their drugs better. How many times am I going to see Amphotericin B in a retail setting? Hardly ever, more common in hospital setting I think.
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Methodology to memorizing this stuff? The list of Top 200 drugs (similar to this: http://www.mosbysdrugconsult.com/DrugConsult/Top_200/) I have is broken down further into their classes. Often, drugs within classes have similar sounding generic names. For example, your beta blockers end with "-lol", ACE Inhibitors end with "-pril", etc. That makes it easier. Drugs within classes share mechanisms of action, and often exhibit similar side effect profiles, drug-drug interactions, etc. The hardest thing I have to memorize is dosing in adults, and peds if available, and whether the drug dosage needs to be adjusted for renal insufficiency.
The bottom line is that the best way to learn the drugs is through exposure at work. I test myself when I put the drug order away, pull off drug monographs from bottles of drugs I'm not quite familiar with and look at them, etc. No, mastery of O-Chem won't really help you out here, just your own hard work. Learning by shear memorization doesn't quite stay in your head, either. There's a lot of "binging and purging" that goes on between exams. You'll probably find that much of what you learn that happens "to stick" won't happen in the classroom. You'll learn it in rotations, or when you start practicing...at least that's what the staff pharmacists where I work tell me.
The bottom line is that the best way to learn the drugs is through exposure at work. I test myself when I put the drug order away, pull off drug monographs from bottles of drugs I'm not quite familiar with and look at them, etc. No, mastery of O-Chem won't really help you out here, just your own hard work. Learning by shear memorization doesn't quite stay in your head, either. There's a lot of "binging and purging" that goes on between exams. You'll probably find that much of what you learn that happens "to stick" won't happen in the classroom. You'll learn it in rotations, or when you start practicing...at least that's what the staff pharmacists where I work tell me.
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I think mastering physiology will help you more than mastering O-chem. For instance, we're studying neurochemistry right now. I am learning every receptor for each neurotransmitter, where they are located in the brain, what type of receptor they are, what part of the brain do the neurons project to, what those areas of the brain are responsible for, what diseases are caused by faulty receptors, ad nausem. I have to somehow retain this, because they said we would need to know all these details for pharmacology in the fall. If I can just learn every single receptor, then I can match the individual drug to that receptor and know what it does. A class of drugs will target a type of receptor, but an individual drug will target a specific receptor. Repitition helps and studying with others helps, too.
But did this list change much for 2003?
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No problem, Karma! The list I have from my school was put together from a variety of sources from 2002 statistics for total numbers of prescriptions written. I don't believe 2003 stats are available yet, because one of the main sources for this list is "Drug Topics", and they don't have an updated list published yet. I emailed you my school's list...are you still at that "***@elp.rr.com" email address?
