Customer Reviews

Lange Flash Cards Pharmacology

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

clinical vignettes are great, but the backs of these cards have the info you need. i thought the cards did a great job at hitting all of the high yield info without unnecessary filler. just took step I and was able to answer all of the pharm questions with these cards and first aid alone.

These cards are concise and full of high-yield information. As a resident in emergency medicine I am mostly interested in the practical application of the meds, and I found it to be an excellent review. The vignette format is a great aid to remembering the pharmacology in a clinical context, too.

I must take a break from a busy study session to share how much I LOVE these Lange Pharmacology Flashcards. If you are a medical student, stop reading these reviews and just buy these cards already. They're a great value at less than $30 (Kaplan cards cost $50 and are not half as good). I cannot emphasize enough how awesome these cards are. I don't even read the book anymore, I just use the card index and look up all my drug info that way.
-- Everything you NEED to know about a drug on ONE card! Take that Lange "TMI,sweet jesus" Pharmacology textbook. Seriously, some people say the cards are wordy. But only if you try to use them as traditional flashcards. When used as a reference tool, they are all of the "Take-home points" about a drug that you need to know: What is this drug for? How does it work? What are the side effects? Anything else pertinent? DONE.
-- Not only is all the info on one card, but the really high yield stuff is BOLDED. My school uses problem-based learning and even our faculty facilitator, when asked what is the most important thing to memorize about a certain drug?, just says "Whatever's on Julie's flashcards."
-- The clinical vignettes on the front are USEFUL! Ok, at first I thought they were wasted space. I was being a flashcard purist and just wanted the drug name on the front and the answers on the back. But then I started using the cards and I LOVE the clinical vignettes. Too often in medical school we are thrown a list of drugs with no distinction between when we actually use each drug. The vignettes answer that question, "When is this medication the answer?" They help you form a mental scenario so you can start to sort the acute meds from the management meds to the "I'll probably never use this" meds. Plus the clinical vignettes help tie together different concepts related to the drug like the pt age, risk factors, diseases, interactions, side effects.

The card I just used was on Furosemide and the vignette said (the abrv. are mine, because I'm in a hurry) "A 54yo male with hx of CHF and HTN presents to your office complaining of a swollen, painful big toe on his left foot. He denies any trauma to the toe. Further questioning also reveals that he has been suffering from some minor hearing loss recently. PE shows signs consistent with a gouty attack. You also find that he shows signs of mild dehydration. Believing that all of his symptoms and physical findings may be due to one of his hypertensive medications, you decide to stop the medication and you treat his gouty attack with colchicine and rehydration."
The back of the card describes everything you NEED to know about Furosemide.
Incredible! In one flashcard, not only do I get the info I want on Furosemide, but I also get a review of the symptoms of gout, I am reminded that gout is treated with colchicine, They remind me that hypertension can lead to CHF (and furosemide is a treatment for both), Too much diuretic can cause dehydration, furosemide can cause hyperuricemia (leading to gout), and I'm still trying to learn how the hearing loss fits in. If I had a traditional flashcard I would have missed all that. And you can be sure that the next time I see a patient with gout I can impress my attending by inquiring if the pt is also on lasix, since that can lead to gout.

Just get the cards already. You won't regret it.

By the way, if you're also looking for a Pharmacology textbook, skip Lange and get Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology. (Not that I even use it, my lectures and these flashcards are enough) Seriously.

I bought these flash-card with hopes of avoiding the time-consuming process of making my own. While the cards contain adequate information, I find the "clinical vingette" format cumbersome when simply trying to nail down the basics. That said, I've heard other people like these cards--so there you have it--they're just not my cup of tea.

To me these cards are too wordy on both sides. They don't embody the concept of flash cards. Aren't you supposed to be able to "flash" quickly through flash cards, thus the name? Like flipping back and forth at a high rate? Each card here starts with a lengthy clinical vignette. I know this is geared toward USMLE style questions, but it makes me feel like I'm reading a textbook that has been chopped into card format. Eventually you will just memorize the vignettes instead of memorizing brief, key info about each drug. And I could understand memorizing key points from each vignette, such as "sore throat, swollen cervical lymph nodes" but these should be presented in bullet format for powerpoint slides or flash cards. Nobody likes spending several minutes reading slides, and for me it's the same with these cards.

The info about the drugs is on the same side as the drug names (and in small print moreover, along with mechanisms and other detailed information), negating the advantage of flash cards wherein you can quiz yourself without using your hand to cover up information. I think my friend picked up the BRS pharm flash cards, and they were actually helpful in the one exam we used them to study for. They had big, bold drug names on one side, and concise (and big) descriptions on the other side. As far as mechanisms and details, I think that's what textbooks are for. Flash cards should be a complementary study aid on the side to help with quick and superficial recall.

So I'm pretty disappointed with these cards. I picked them up in the store with plastic wrap so I couldn't tell what I was getting into, but if I could have checked them out right there I would have never bought them. Gleaned basically no use from them and just recently resold them on this site for a loss. I used Netter's Anatomy flash cards to great benefit in that course, but it was still not a complete substitute for texts. It seems like these flash cards are trying to be that.

All in all, a poorly conceived study resource IMO. A humble opinion at that, since I'm just a lowly first year med student and don't have the benefit of hindsight on the USMLE regarding these cards' value. Nonetheless I didn't feel like I was learning from them and was hardly touching them save for the few times when I forced it (mind you I'm a diligent student), so I decided there was no point in keeping them. I'll be looking into another set of flash cards immediately, as I find them useful for certain subjects including pharm, and I think homemade flash cards are primitive and inefficient for such a bulk of material. Not recommended

*Update: Yes, it was in fact the BRS pharm cards that my friend had and which I have now purchased and am very happy with. They have helped me greatly on my exams. I also recommend the BRS Microbiology flash cards. Pharm and Micro are 2 subjects well suited to flash card review.

These are great. The clinical presentations are not as useful in pharm as in other areas (like micro) but I still find them exceptionally helpful in drug associations. Lane Pharm cards + FA (and HY Pharm if need extra). Many classic cases and great descriptions. Highly recommend if flashcards help you.

These flash cards were a great help in learning not only the medication I need to know for the USMLE Step 1, but it was easy to remember the cards due to it's categorization of the medication. It was worth the purchase and helped me pass my pharm final.

The mistakes on these cards make concepts really frustrating and confusing. Sometimes multiple mistakes per card... I am very happy with the layout and clinical vignettes, though. They don't seem too wordy. Just enough info for me.

These cards are detailed and informative. Vignettes help formulate a character and scenario to go along with the drugs. However, they are not flip through - one word, one phrase - type flash cards. I found them helpful for learning the specifics of each drug, and then using other methods for rapid-response memorization.

These flash cards are a must buy. Every drug discussed in pharmacology is mentioned in these cards and then some. However, there were a few mistakes on one or two cards but for the most part they are accurate.