Pharm-1.18-12-Points-to-Answering-Pharmacology-Questions-2

ANSWERING PHARMACOLOGY QUESTIONS 12 Points to Answering Pharmacology Questions 1. Patient Safety The NCLEX® is concerned about if you will be a SAFE nurse. Always think about what option will lead to your patient being safe. You can automatically exclude options that will put your patient in harm. 2. Focus on Side Eects Learn the top 3 side effects with major medication classes. If you know the class and the major side effects associated with that class you greatly increase your chances of answering correctly. 3. ABCs Airway, Breathing, Circulation. The ABCs will never go away. Focus on the nursing process and the ABCs with each and every question including side effects. 4. Prexes and Suxes Learn the most common prefixes and suffixes. This will cut down your total study time tremendously. 5. Look for Patient Clues Does the question provide information about the patients original diagnosis? Use general clues in the question about the patient, their history, and their condition. These clues will guide you to the medications they will be taking. 6. General Patient Reaction Look for clues in the patients reaction. For example if the patient reports dizziness, this is a clue that you should assess blood pressure. Use your assessment skills to answer pharmacology questions. 7. Generic Only generic names will be used on the actual NCLEX®. Although these names can be a bit harder to pronounce, they will provide clues (prefix/suffix) into the type of medication it is which will guide you in choosing the correct answer. 8. Random, Random, Random Regardless of how much you study . . . you will get that insanely random medication that no one has ever heard of. In this case just take a deep breath, relax, and use your nursing judgment, critical thinking, and think Patient Safety........