So this course is an intro course to pharmacology from a nursing perspective. Unfortunately only those registered in the nursing program (I forget what streams) can take it, because it's a pretty interesting and useful class! Dr. Kirsten Culver, the professor is AMAAAZING...her lectures are the most organized lectures I've ever seen, and she's always available to answer questions after lecture and on ELM. The lectures are broken down into 5 lecture series:
- Core Concepts in Pharmacology
- Pharmacology of the Endocrine System
- Pharmacology of the Central Nervous System
- Pharmacology of the Cardiovascular System
- Pharmacology of the Respiratory and Gastrointestinal System
To ensure participation, lectures do have a participatory component that uses the i-Clickers. You need to attend at least 80% of the lectures, so if you forget your clicker or miss one class, it's no big
After each unit, there is an online learning module and quiz that you have to complete. You get a week to complete both, but once you start the quiz, you have 15 minutes to complete it.
Tutorials
The tutorials were ridiculous! We basically spent less than two hours playing games such as Jeopardy and Nursing Survivor. Depending on your TA or tutorial members, you can play in teams or as a group. The tutorial is based on what you learned in class that day, so it really helps to prepare and read the textbook beforehand. Oh, and you're responsible for textbook material for tutorials, but not for the exam.
Overall, if you attend all the lectures and keep up with the material, this course is not very difficult. Dr. Culver does an excellent job explaining the concepts and making sure the class is on the same page. The midterm and exams are solely based on the lectures and learning modules, so if you pay attention in class, then you're set! I'll admit, the interest factor did play a huge role in my opinion...but that's always a good thing because the more you like the material of a course, the better you do in it, right?
