Hi, what advice would you give in terms of learning the top 100 drugs prescribed and learning all the key features on them? Are there any resources you would recommend? The task seems a bit daunting and overwhelming. Thanks! =D
Hello! I think my med school gave us a sort of cheat sheet on the top drugs (but I can’t find mine anywhere to share it, I guess I’ve buried it somewhere). Top 100 drugs sounds like a lot, but you’ll pick it up over time, so don’t worry if it takes a while, or you feel overwhelmed at first. I found that as a student dosages were really hard to remember, because we don’t prescribe as students. Now as a doctor I prescribe things every day, so you start to become much more familiar with dosages when it’s part of your life. In real practice, it’s perfectly acceptable to check out your dosage in the BNF or have a chat with the pharmacist about which drug in that class we prefer to use in our current trust. So remembering drug dosages off the top of our heads isn’t actually as important for a doctor as you’d think. As long as you are SURE of the dose (whether it’s from memory or from a book) and give the right dose, that’s what matters. I used to use the pocket prescriber when I was an FY1 doctor, because it fit nicely in my bag. I see that there’s actually a book about the 100 top drugs as well. PP gives a very basic outline of how the drug works, then dosages/contraindications etc, which is enough detail to get to grips with the material. I aso recommend the new BNF app, because it’s free, you don’t need to remember your Athens login (bane of my life), and you get the BNF and BNF for children rolled into one. It’s really easy to use since the update over the Summer; so much so I use it pretty much daily, whereas I used to prefer the paper books. Hope that helps!
