hi my name's Amanda and I'm a pharmacist today I'll be talking about how to memorize the top 200 drugs if you find this video useful please press the like button subscribe to my channel and share with others who may find it helpful too and if you would like to have lifetime ad-free access to my Pharmacy learning videos and handouts of all my slides please consider enrolling on my online course today the links in the comments and in the description thanks I really appreciate it so first begin with what is the top 200 drugs list a top 200 drugs list is a collection of the most commonly used medications in the United States and there is actually no single top 200 drugs list different groups create their own list based on the data they use to determine the top drugs and the most current information they have the top 200 drugs lists they change over time because new drugs are developed existing drugs are discontinued and prescribing pattern shift over time so what is the purpose of a top 200 drugs list a top 200 drugs list is often used as a reference by a variety of students and Healthcare professionals including doctors nurses Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians studying or memorizing a top 200 drugs list helps to ensure that Healthcare professionals are familiar with the most commonly prescribed medications and their uses so before we look at how to memorize the top 200 drugs we'll look at how not to memorize them so number one don't memorize them in order you don't need to know the order of the drugs on the list what you need to know is more information about a drug when given one piece of information about it so for example when given the generic name of a drug what is the brand name or the indication and number two don't memorize them independently don't Begin by trying to memorize each individual drug the best way is to start with a group of drugs that have the same indication and are in the same drug class some drugs on the top 200 list won't be grouped together in a class so these will have to be memorized independently but a large portion of the drugs can be grouped together by class so now we'll look at how to memorize the top 200 drugs number one memorize the drugs by indication in class first as I've mentioned you don't want to start by memorizing individual drugs but we're going to begin by classes so begin by memorizing drugs together by indication and drug class because there are similarities in the ending of the generic names so these are called suffixes and that's based on the drug class so for example some drugs for high cholesterol are in the HMG COA reductase inhibitor class and all of their generic names in with the suffix Statin so a good place to start with this is in my top 200 drugs presentation series videos that are by class and I'll put the playlist Link in the description so number two for how to memorize the top 200 drugs learn each individual drug within a class so after becoming familiar with drug classes and suffixes learn each individual drug by brand and generic name within a class so we'll continue with our Statin example so once you know that drugs that end in Statin or hmg-coa reductase inhibitors for high cholesterol then you can focus on each individual drug so for example atorvastatin is Lipitor is the brand name simvastatin is Zocor and rosuvastatin is Crestor and for doing this my top 200 drugs flash cards by class videos can help and I'll also put the link for that in the description so number three once you have the individual drugs memorized by class study them in a mixed order videos like the ones I've created of the top 200 drugs in different orders such as by most popular or by alphabetical order can be helpful and the links to those videos will also be in the description and printable or written flashcards can also be helpful for studying this way where you can physically mix up the order and there'll be a link in the description to my course that includes printable flashcards that I've made that are a good way to study this way and number four for miscellaneous drugs that aren't in a common drug class repetition is key so some drugs will need to be memorized individually there isn't always a suffix that indicates the drug class and indication flash cards are especially helpful for miscellaneous drugs make two separate Pals as you go through them ones you know and ones you don't and then you can spend more time reviewing the ones that you don't know so that's a good way to get some extra time focusing on ones you don't know as well and number five use practice quizzes to test your knowledge and identify areas where you need to improve so Quiz videos like the ones I've created are the top 200 drugs quiz number one and quiz number two can be helpful to see what you do know what what you are remembering and the links to these video quizzes will also be in the description now we'll just look at a summary of how to memorize the top 200 drugs number one memorize the drugs by indication in class first number two learn each individual drug within a class number three once you have the individual drugs memorized by class study them in a mixed order number four for miscellaneous drugs that aren't in a common drug class repetition is key and number five use practice quizzes to test your knowledge and identify areas where you need to improve and remember the key to memorization is repetition and practice so I hope these tips are helpful for studying and learning the top 200 drugs thanks for watching please subscribe to see more of my Pharmacy learning videos and if you would like to have lifetime ad-free access to my Pharmacy learning videos and handouts of all my slides please consider enrolling in my online course today the link is in the comments and the descriptions thanks I really appreciate it