best approach for micro-pharm?

[unknownuser]

I am studying micro-pharm and am having a lot of trouble remembering which drugs you give for what bug. The hardest part is when the questions give complications and then choices of drugs. For all other topics/systems my pharm is fine...but when it comes to micro I just can't seem to get it.

Could someone please shed some light on how they ask questions on the usmle regarding micro-pharm? It is more mechanism of actions and side effects....or just what do you give the patient based on symptoms.

What is the best approach for studying this??

[Dr. X]

i would say.. know the virulence (ex. toxins) of the bug and how the given drug works against that. that sums it up.

prevention is very important part of medicine and also in step1. know all vaccinations related stuff.
eg. Give penicillin (against Group A strep) to reduce number of cardiac surgeries (RF) in future, etc. If N. gon. treated with ceftriaxone why give erythromycin or doxycline? ans: for chlamydia.. (PID)

they might give description of the bug (clinical presentation/medium used/characteristics) and ask what drug should be given. (2 step reasoning - standard q's)

they might give description of the bug and ask for mechanism behind how the drug will work on that bug. (3 step reasoning-intermediate q's)

know anti-HIV.

[stateofequilibrium]

In the USMLE they'll be fairly straightforward questions, don't sweat it. Almost everyone I've talked to freaks out about pharm, and when they do it on the real USMLE, it's a lot easier than expected.

It'll be primary type questions: What's the mechanism of X? What's the adverse effect of X? What is absolutely contraindicated in X?

The most complicated question I got was something like, "On follow up, what type of exam will you want to conduct on a patient receiving drug X?"

Look at your First Aid, they do a great job outlining what you need to know.