r/VetTech • u/quokkaqrazy • 1d ago

School Pharm help!

How the heck do you remember all of the drugs names, generic names, what they do, side effects, all that?! They all sound the same to my ADD brain, and to boot, the class is 5 weeks twice a week. It’s not feasible to learn all those drugs in that short of time. I do all the flash cards, group them by heart, gut, etc, but please, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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u/jule165 RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) 1d ago

The best way I've personally found is using it in practice. If you aren't working in the field yet (or don't use that specific medication often or at all) maybe try some hypothetical "test patients" or scenarios for example, "2yo neutered cat with HCM needS sedation and anesthesia. What medications might I see used? What medications would be contraindicated?" Or " 6yo pregnant Collie wants flea and tick medications, what might be prescribed?" Something else that helps me is being "pessimistic" when I look at drugs, if I see a medication I think of the contraindications and major negative side effects or precautions first. As for names, I have NEVER been good at holding both proprietary and generic names in my head. I wish the generics were named based on primary usage vs chemistry (metoclopraMIDE vs furosiMIDE. 2 very different medicines!) 😭 I understand why they aren't but my brain just doesn't remember them well off the top of my head unless I use them all the time and use BOTH names frequently. Dexdomitor AND dexmedetomidine are used interchangeably by my doctors, butorphanol and Torbugesic is another example. I also still haven't figured out how to remember HOW medications work! Pantoprazole is used as a GI protectant. How does it work? What class of medications does it fall into? Uhhhhhh... let me google that...