Top 200 drugs ...more silly questions

[Guest guest]

Hello again :-)

I'd like to thank everybody for great advises on how to memorize

the drugs. I have couple more silly questions if anybody could help.

-What actually are the top 200 drugs that we need to know? Does Top

200 drugs mean by prescription count of the current year? ( I took my

Pharm tech course back in '02 so my drug cards are very, very out of

date..they even have Baycol and Claritin in there) Do we go by top 200

generic or top 200 brand name drugs because they're not the same. (

For example,in 2007, #1 for generic is hydrocodone but #1 for brand

drug is Lipitor ) I'm so sorry my question is quite confusing! I just wanna

know what's the best list I could rely on.

-How important is it to know each drug's therapeutic class? I find

myself " wing it " everytime when it comes to meds for hypertension (

What would be the best way to differentiate between beta blocker/

CCB/diuretic/ ACE Inhibitor and so on.....)

Thank you so much again and have a great day :-)

Niratsa

[Guest guest]

Dear boxinggoddess,

Please post the link to your Top 200Drugs and I will take a look at

what you are talking about before I give you a definite answer. But I

can say this:

It is true that what is usually posted is the TOP SELLING drugs and

in order of money generated, rather than volume sold as most people

interpret top selling to mean. Also it is usually the top selling of

retail, not hospital, except maybe for a few scattered drugs in the

list.

The TOP 200 or TOP 300 Drug lists are ONLY a Guide, not set in stone

as to what you need to know for the PTCB/ExCPT exams or as a tech. A

tech should KNOW over 1000 drugs easily when in practice. I teach my

students well over 800 drugs, but they are given a pure Trade and

generic senior final on a select 100. In addition, the Pharmacology

exam incorporates many more drugs that they need to know about in

terms of:

1. Classifications, Indications and sigs

2. Pharmacokinetics (fate of the drug)

3. Pharmacodynamics (mechanism of action)

4. Adverse Reactions (SE and Toxic E)

5. Precauations and Contraindications

6. Avauilability and Storage and handling

7. Drug Interactions (w/drugs, food,herbs and disease states)

Just to name a few!

If you have red much of the last two weeks of posts you will notice

that " Zaldamo " mentioned that his/her exam had many pharmacology

questions.

So YES youwillneed to study pharmacology and the exam willhave

questions fromany angle and you cannotpredict which drugs they may

ask you about. But it safe to say know the most common

classifications:

1. Repiratory esp for asthma

2. Circulatory esp for HTN, CHF, hyperlipidema

3. Digestive System Diseases, esp for ulcer, laxatives

4. Endocrine System Diseases or conditions, esp birth control for

women, thyoid deficiency

5. Renal System, esp diuretics for HTN

6. Muscularskeletal System diseases, esp arthritis,minor aches and

pains, major/severe aches and pain

7. Central Nervous System Diseases and Conditions esp for anxiety,

insomnia, mental disorders, depression

8. Immune System diseases,esp skin and repiratory infections

Some of the above cross over into two body systems suchas drugs for

insomnia will affect CNS as well as MS.

The above is also a GUIDE, it is NOT set in stone.

How to study the pharmacology? Purchase a book called " Pharmacology

for Dummies " it is made simple and easier to understand than some

others and is available at Waldens and /Noble.

The BEST way to differentiate between the classifications is to KNOW

and understand how the drug classifications works on the SAME disease

state.

For example:

CCB = Calcium channel blocker: blocks the calcium in specific

pathways in the tissue of the myocardium (heart muscle) to slow down

the heart. The increased speed of the heart is increases blood

pressure or HTN.

Beta Blocker = blocks NE (norepinephrine) from entering a Beta 1 cell

receptor of the myocardium, in order to slow down the heart. NE

increases speed of the heart.

Now visualize or draw the difference of the two. while both slow down

the hert to decrease bp or HTN, they do it by a different means.

Knowing how they act will allow you to understand the difference

between them. This would be studying the mechanism of action.

You can also use the Study tool that I have provided in the

Pharmacology section and the Study Tools section of the file/tutorial

secton of this stie.

Hope this helps.

Respectfully,

Jeanetta Mastron CPhT BS

Pharm Tech Educator

Founder/Owner

>

> Hello again :-)

>

> I'd like to thank everybody for great advises on how to

memorize

> the drugs. I have couple more silly questions if anybody could help.

>

> -What actually are the top 200 drugs that we need to know? Does Top

> 200 drugs mean by prescription count of the current year? ( I took

my

> Pharm tech course back in '02 so my drug cards are very, very out

of

> date..they even have Baycol and Claritin in there) Do we go by top

200

> generic or top 200 brand name drugs because they're not the same. (

> For example,in 2007, #1 for generic is hydrocodone but #1 for brand

> drug is Lipitor ) I'm so sorry my question is quite confusing! I

just wanna

> know what's the best list I could rely on.

>

> -How important is it to know each drug's therapeutic class? I find

> myself " wing it " everytime when it comes to meds for hypertension

(

> What would be the best way to differentiate between beta blocker/

> CCB/diuretic/ ACE Inhibitor and so on.....)

>

> Thank you so much again and have a great day :-)

> Niratsa

>