# Drugs best way to memorize?



## Zalan (Sep 20, 2011)

Hi,

I`m presently an EMT-B working at a Casino. I just passed PARM 111, & moving onto PARM 112 Pharmacology. I got passed PARM 111 with a B. It was more or less review, & explaining the role of a Paramedic. Presently, I have to memorize Cardiac, & Respiratory drugs. Currently, I`m trying to mermorize Cardiac drugs. I try to review twice a day by home made flash cards. Do you have any tips?

I`m kicking around the idea of trying to memorize 5 a day. Via using flashcards, & writting them out 15 times.


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## Handsome Robb (Sep 20, 2011)

I learned them by class. If you understand what the class itself does it makes it easier to remember specific drugs.

Also I took a personal whiteboard and made spaces for Class, Mechanism, Indications, Contraindications, Onset/duration, Dose/Route, and Side Effects with a permanent marker.

Then I'd use a dry erase marker pick a drug, fill out everything I knew about it then look at the card and fill in the info that I missed, rinse and repeat.

Good luck!


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## STXmedic (Sep 20, 2011)

Don't memorize them; understand them. If you understand them, most of the rest of the info you need to memorize is easily figured out and remembered. About the only memorization needed is doses.

As far as learning the drugs, flash cards are nice because you can take them with you and pull them out throughout the day. I don't know what kind of work is entailed at casinos, but if you ever come across knowing a pts meds, look them up after every call. Any time you see or hear the name of a med, look it up.


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## Handsome Robb (Sep 20, 2011)

PoeticInjustice said:


> Don't memorize them; understand them. If you understand them, most of the rest of the info you need to memorize is easily figured out and remembered.
> 
> ...if you ever come across knowing a pts meds, look them up after every call. Any time you see or hear the name of a med, look it up.



Definitely better advice than mine. It's been a long day.


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## tssemt2010 (Sep 20, 2011)

PoeticInjustice said:


> Don't memorize them; understand them. If you understand them, most of the rest of the info you need to memorize is easily figured out and remembered. About the only memorization needed is doses.
> 
> As far as learning the drugs, flash cards are nice because you can take them with you and pull them out throughout the day. I don't know what kind of work is entailed at casinos, but if you ever come across knowing a pts meds, look them up after every call. Any time you see or hear the name of a med, look it up.



this^^^ if you know what each drug does, how it reacts with the body, what it treats, its indications, contraindications etc, you will not need to "memorize", you will know what that drug is going to do and how it is going to do it, only thing you would need to "memorize" would be dosages


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## floridamed224 (Jun 23, 2015)

Hello everyone,

I start medic school in August.  I have been sent a list of meds I have to know by Day 1 of the class for a test.  We will be given a blank chart and must list all 26 meds, their class, packaging, description, mechanism of action, indications, contraindications precautions, side effects, special notes, adult dose, pediatric dose, and routes.  Any suggestions on the best way to learn this material?  Thanks.


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## Gurby (Jun 23, 2015)

I would try to learn 1 med per day from now until when school starts. 

Pick a drug, read about it on wikipedia, read about its usage in EMS, think about when you would want to use it and why.  Then, make a flashcard that has the name of the drug on one side, and all that information on the other side.  Then get to work memorizing.  Next day, do the same thing with a new drug.  Try to do meds of the same class all at once (ie do the beta blockers first, then the analgesics, etc).

Go through all of your flash cards at least once every day, adding 1 new one each day.


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## Carlos Danger (Jun 23, 2015)

You are being given an exam on something you haven't been taught yet? Did they at least give you a good reference? Sounds to me like a rather dubious teaching method.

Learn the classes first, because when you know what class a drug belongs to, you already know how it works. So you can learn the basic mechanism and indications for a handful of drugs just by knowing their class beforehand. 

After you understand each class and how the drugs in that class work, _then_ list the drugs that belong to that class, and start memorizing the specifics of each one.


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## gotbeerz001 (Jun 23, 2015)

futuremed224 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I start medic school in August.  I have been sent a list of meds I have to know by Day 1 of the class for a test.  We will be given a blank chart and must list all 26 meds, their class, packaging, description, mechanism of action, indications, contraindications precautions, side effects, special notes, adult dose, pediatric dose, and routes.  Any suggestions on the best way to learn this material?  Thanks.


I have always heard of the "the list" of drugs that you need to know by Day 1 of medic school. I figured this was the norm. 

When I went to medic school, I asked for "the list" a few months out and the reply I got was something like:
"Do not worry about the drugs. We will teach you the anatomy and physiology so that you may understand what each class of drugs does (MOA). Once you know that, it's just a matter of names and doses."
I tell you, it worked. 

Trying to memorize 50+ drugs by rote when you have no idea what you are reading is a bad practice. 

Sorry if this was not helpful.


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## joshrunkle35 (Jun 23, 2015)

Well, how I learned drugs was that we were given a chart like that halfway through school, when the pharmacology section started, then each drug was explained as to how it works. We understood what most of the drugs were for, by then. After we had learned how they work in the body, what they're for and why we give them, memorizing them was pretty easy. 

I made copies of blank charts and filled them out at home. The fields that I couldn't absolutely nail down every day, cold, I took and wrote down. Then I recorded my voice reading that information, and whenever I drove back and forth to school or a ride along, or a practical, I would listen to that information over and over again. 

I think it's really crappy and lazy that a place asks you to memorize stuff before school. If they're not willing to teach this to you, then what else are they going to make you learn on your own?


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## floridamed224 (Jun 23, 2015)

I believe their goal is to kind of weed out the people who aren't serious about the class and studying.  I think they also want us to have a decent familiarity with them before we start the class that way we will be familiar with them when we cover them in class.


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## Carlos Danger (Jun 23, 2015)

futuremed224 said:


> I believe their goal is to kind of weed out the people who aren't serious about the class and studying.  I think they also want us to have a decent familiarity with them before we start the class that way we will be familiar with them when we cover them in class.



Yeah, I am not a fan of any type of "weeding out". It's just nonsense. You are in paramedic school, not training to be a Navy Seal.

Anyway, my last post wasn't worded very clearly (I was on my phone and in a hurry), so I'll give an example of what I mean:

Say you read about beta-blockers. You come to understand how they work, why/when they are used, and when they are contraindicated. Guess what? Now you know esmolol, metoprolol, labetolol, carvedilol, atenolol, etc. Just learn each specific drug's particular use and dose range.

Same is true of calcium channel blockers (diltiazem, verapamil, etc.), ACE inhibitors (lisiniprol, captopril, enalapril), and opioids (morphine, fentanyl, hydromorphone).

It is critical to understand that some drugs within the same class are clinically very different (morphine and fentanyl act very differently, as do esmolol and labetolol) and are thus used in different scenarios, but the _basic_ mechanism, indications, and contraindications will all be the same. For the purposes of passing the exam, knowing the classes will be half of the battle.


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## gotbeerz001 (Jun 23, 2015)

futuremed224 said:


> I believe their goal is to kind of weed out the people who aren't serious about the class and studying.  I think they also want us to have a decent familiarity with them before we start the class that way we will be familiar with them when we cover them in class.


Bad instructors "weed out". During training, an instructor is a STUDENT ADVOCATE; during evaluations they become a PATIENT/COWORKER ADVOCATE.


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## Run with scissors (Jun 27, 2015)

sounds like some non-sense.  just ask any pill popper on the street how easy it is to memorize drugs and dosage amounts and what they do.  

if ole cracky mcgee smokin rocks on  the corner can memorize this stuff. you shouldn't have a problem.


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## DesertMedic66 (Jun 27, 2015)

Run with scissors said:


> sounds like some non-sense.  just ask any pill popper on the street how easy it is to memorize drugs and dosage amounts and what they do.
> 
> if ole cracky mcgee smokin rocks on  the corner can memorize this stuff. you shouldn't have a problem.


Your druggies must be a lot more educated than the ones we have here. Couple of weeks ago we had a guy OD on benadryl. He took 4 and then started to get sleepy so he took a handful. He thought they were Oxy.


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## Run with scissors (Jun 27, 2015)

lmfao! Dummy.


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