Pharmacology

Pharmacology can be a challenging course for most people who have minimal background in the subject (which is probably the majority). The class consists of lectures that are mainly live and given by Dr. Curry typically, but sometimes by a guest lecturer. Dr. Curry gives these lectures based on PDF handouts that he has created containing all of the information and main objectives you need to learn. There are no small group sessions in this course.

This class will be your first exposure to a lot of pharmacology and drugs which will later be reinforced as you go through the organ blocks. It has felt overwhelming for students because there is not much context provided. Since you don’t know much about the mechanisms of disease yet and have never heard of these drugs before you will feel like you have no clue what is going on and it will seem impossible to remember the drugs. Well, that’s okay. Your goal for this course will be to get first exposure, maybe learn and retain a couple of drug names, and pass the course. It will all come together and click in your brain when you are in the organ blocks. We promise. So, the key to this block is to stay calm and be okay with not knowing anything. Focus more of your efforts on Microbiology because it is your only chance to learn micro with a solid foundation and it will not come back as consistently throughout the organ blocks.

You will have two homework problem sets at the beginning of the course that deal with pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. These can be challenging, especially if you haven’t had a math class in a while, so work with your classmates and don’t save them for the night before! There will be three quizzes during the course which mostly contain 10-25 questions each. You will have one Brightspace mid-term with roughly 50 questions and one final Brightspace exam with roughly 100 questions.

You will be taking the Pharmacology and Microbiology blocks simultaneously. Typically Monday through Friday will look the same with Pharmocology lecture happening from 8am - 10am. Sometimes it doesn’t take the entire 2-hour block and you will have your afternoons free to study unless there is a FRAMES (Basic Doctoring, Disruptions of Development, etc.) course/activity in the afternoon.

• Lecture - Dr. Curry will provide you with PDF handouts prior to every lecture. The night before the lecture, if you have time, skim or read through the PDF as a first exposure. Then, during the live lecture, follow along in the handout and take extra notes as needed. Lectures can be helpful, and Dr. Curry is very entertaining, but it is not mandatory. If you do not go, focus your studying on the objectives at the end of the PDF.  You can create your own study guide by taking the learning objectives at the end of the handout and typing out the answers to all of the objectives, or you can study by unsuspending Anki cards related to the objectives. All answers will be contained throughout the handout written by Dr. Curry. Stay calm, and sometimes just accept that the handouts will be confusing, but you will use them later as a reference when you are going through your organ blocks and then it will start to make sense.

• Homework Sets - We recommend that you attempt the problem sets alone, then work as a class or in a small group to verify that everyone understands the calculations and has the correct solutions. Answers will be covered in a review after the due date, but will not be provided outside of the review.

• Quizzes - These are typically quite short with only 15-25 questions per quiz. Make sure you attend the quiz review session by Dr. Curry. The questions he goes over tend to be highly representative of quiz questions. Focus on studying the answers to all of the learning objectives he has outlined. It might help to get a class document going where everyone can work together to answer the objectives.

• Midterm & Final Exam - Both of these exams are Brightspace exam questions written by the professors. Make sure you attend both the midterm and final exam review sessions by Dr. Curry. He gives you a very good indication of what will be on the exams based on the review questions. As long as you know the answers to the review questions you will be able to pass. Again, most people will leave this block feeling like they learned or retained minimal content, but just be okay with it. You need a 70% overall and a 70% on the final to pass the course.

*Most important resources are in red

• Boards & Beyond - Watch the relevant videos the night before for the topic that will be presented in the lecture the next day. The Basic Pharmacology folder will cover the beginning of the course. After that, the relevant drugs are dispersed in different organ blocks folder so you may have to go searching for them. For example, antidepressants and antipsychotics are found under Psychiatry, while Anesthetics can be found under Neurology. Since you will end up watching those videos during the organ blocks anyways, it may not be worth your time to go scavenging. Focus your attention on other resources below like First Aid & Sketchy.

• Dr. Curry’s Handouts - These handouts can seem dense and confusing, but as long as you answer the learning objectives and memorize them, then you should be able to pass the course. Sometimes, you may find that you put 80% of your effort into learning micro which is more important at this time. For the other 20% you should focus on passing this pharm course using the learning objectives and then know that the drugs will come back many more times for you to learn later.

• First Aid & Anki - First Aid has an excellent condensed review of the major topics of this course. It can be helpful to review material throughout the course or to review key concepts for the final exam. Anki cards can be unsuspended based on either the First Aid tags or the Boards & Beyond tags if you use Boards & Beyond. Use Anki if it works for you, but do not consider it a necessity.

• Sketchy Pharm - Start watching the relevant videos on drugs that you learn during this block. Focus most of your efforts on the drugs learned in the micro block (antimicrobials) and then watch the Autonomic Drugs, and Parkinson's. If you feel like you have more time in your schedule (highly unlikely) then go ahead and watch more relevant drugs, but if you feel overwhelmed know that it is okay to wait to watch the rest of the videos as they come up in your organ blocks.

  • Download the PDF Sketchy images and notes.

  • As you watch the videos annotate on the images what each part represents

  • After, use the Anki Pepper Pharm Deck to help with recall of the images over time

• YouTube Channels - If you struggle with basic concepts/need visualization and explanation then these are the two best places to start. Watch Speed Pharmacology for concise videos to visualize the basic mechanisms of the relevant drugs and watch the video prior to the live lecture in class. If you feel like you want to dig deeper into a topic, then watch the longer videos by Ninja Nerd.

• Student Made Resources - There are multiple study guides made by students. Preview them and decide for yourself if you want to use them or find them helpful.

  • Holly Thomson (HT) Pharm Study Guide - contains all learning objective answers

  • Pharmacology Notes by Trujillo - high yield notes of all the lectures

  • MCASOM Student Made Study Guides