ATI pharmacology scared me

So I had to take this stupid test as part of my course that I'm taking right now - which is done in just about 2 wks time!

So, what you ask had me so scared about this test? Well.... it's JUST regarding medication... and if you know anything about health care, you know that there are a SHIT LOAD of medications out there, so how the HELL are you expected to know about all the side effects, adverse effects or which lab tests to monitor for EVERY medication???!!!

I don't really know what you tell you about that one.  There were many medications on that test that I had no idea and took educated guesses. I couldn't believe I got 78% when I was finished.

Plus, they ask you to determine values - calculate the amount of medication that the patient would receive - or (what I bombed) how many mL/hr to give to the patient and they give you the drop factor - I absolutely froze on that one because when I was preparing for this test I wasn't thinking medication calculations and so I had filled my head with medications and pushed out the calculation formulas. A couple of them I fumbled my way through and seemed to have gleaned the correct information so yay for that one!

What I hate about that test is that they expect you to know medications from areas that (I feel) are for more specialized areas - such as oncology and L&D - so I just had to take guesses with some of these things, but other ones I remembered reading once upon a time and so I took my best shot at it.

Others were more familiar and I knew immediately. The saying "you know what you know and you know what you don't know" - well that's certainly the case here.

I can't wait to be done with stupid ATI. I've hated it from the get go and don't feel that it adequately prepares you. Additionally, I don't think that their educational material helps prepare you for their tests. Therefore, find other pharmacology texts to help prepare you.

Now I have to write a massive paper that is worth 1/3 of my mark for my course! Wish me luck - I'm doing it on family presence during resuscitation - and I have to actually write a policy & procedure! And, if you're anything like me - someone who is at the bedside and does NOT actually have any part to play in those being written, it feels like a massive undertaking - and I have a week to write it AND the paper component. Yep, not really looking forward to this. I'll be buried up to my ears with this. I'm slightly stressed about this. Plus I'm such a procrastinator when I get anxious and let me tell you, I'm VERY anxious about this all because this teacher is soooooo critical and I want such a good mark for this.

But once I get it done, I'll be able to tell you a couple of stories from clinical and my personal life - things have been busy!