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how to study for pathophysiology

8 STUDY TIPS FOR PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

I’ve received countless DMs and comments asking how I studied for pathophysiology while in nursing school. I hope that this post helps you prepare and study for the class that nearly everyone dreads.

A quick back story though – My first session at Chamberlain consisted of Transition to Nursing and Pathophysiology. Since the Transition class was only 2 credits and consisted of “busy work”, I focused primarily on the patho. However, some of my peers had to take patho with fundamentals and health assessment; I can’t imagine the amount of stress/studying that they had to do for not one, but THREE classes!

So here it goes –

1. Know your basic anatomy & physiology – Having a general working knowledge of how the human body works will help you in the long run. For example, knowing the overall structure and function of the heart will help you understand how heart failure affects the rest of the body.
2. Record the lectures (if you’re allowed to) – I recommend doing this for every lecture you have, so that you can go back and listen to something you may have missed the first time around.
3. Take good notes – Patho is a difficult course, but making sure that you can take good notes on the concepts and studying those will help you succeed when it comes time to take the exam. I always took flashcards with me to work and studied when I wasn’t on chair.
4. Make flashcards – I used the notes that I took in class to make my own flashcards. It was more of a “question and answer” type of thing. An example would be like this:  “What are the clinical manifestations of a pleural effusion?” On the back side would be the response: “dyspnea, cough, pain, tachycardia, fever“. Take the flashcards with you wherever you go and quiz yourself. I often made a pile of the cards that I knew and the ones that I needed to practice more.
   1. You can find the template that I use for flashcards here! Previously on Etsy and Google Drive…
5. Make study sheets – For me, this was helpful because I typed all of my lecture notes out. Going over the information a 3rd time (listening to lecture, making flashcards, and the study sheets) really helped me comprehend and understand the information. I absolutely love the study sheets because I can format them however I want, draw pictures (even though I’m a terrible artist) and use as many colors as I want. Best part about this is that you don’t have to constantly flip back and forth from your lecture/power point notes – everything is on one page!A quick example of how I made study sheets from my lecture notes.
   1. I have a quick template/cheat sheet for making study sheets here! Cheat sheet for making study sheets! 
6. Find unique ways to remember the information – I absolutely love doing this part, because it’s helped me SO much when taking the exam (regardless of if it’s patho or not). My friend always makes fun of me for having crazy ways of remembering the information, but we never forgot them for the exam! There are a couple ways you can do this:
   1. Mnemonics: There are so many available if you google the topic you’re working on. I used these a lot when I studied for fluid & electrolytes in funds & med/surg. You can also make up a few of your own! Do whatever you will remember!
   2. Connect the info: My instructor made it easy for us to remember the difference between a thrombus and embolus –> THROMBUS is TIED DOWN and an EMBOLUS ESCAPES. Another example would be connecting Grave’s disease with zombies (yes…the inner Walking Dead fan in me is coming out).
7. Study with a friend – Nursing school can be difficult, but having a friend/small study group makes it a little easier. I usually study with 1-2 of my friends, because I feel that larger groups can be distracting.
8. Use your resources 
   1. Textbook: Using the textbook for anything is always a good option, because you can clarify or read up on a concept you’re not familiar with.
   2. Tutoring center: Take advantage of your tutoring center on campus (if you have one). The tutors are there to help you succeed!
   3. Google: I’ve said this multiple times…Google is my best friend. If I don’t understand something that I wrote down in my notes or the book is too complex to understand (yes, this happens quite often), I will turn to Google. It helps me understand concepts that have been “dumbed down” (for lack of better terms). There are things in the textbook/notes that I just can’t wrap my head around, so I use Google to simplify the concept. NOTE: I don’t recommend using this tool to study for everything – I use it to clarify something or to find mnemonics as mentioned above.
   4. YouTube: Good ‘ole YouTube…who would’ve thought that watching videos could be a way of studying. This is especially helpful for the students who are visual or aural learners. There are sooooooo many videos out there made just for nurses/nursing students. Simply type the concept in and tons of videos pop up (well…maybe not tons, but you get the point!)

These are just a few tips that I would recommend for someone who needs help with pathophysiology. For me, it was a lot of memorization, but I still use the basic  information now in my med/surg course and how I can create solutions for patients.

The Best Way To Study Pathophysiology (The Ultimate Guide)

Study Tips / By Will

Pathophysiology can seem scary. There’s a lot to it and not all of it is straightforward.

The best way to study pathophysiology? Have patience. Have a good set of notes and flashcards. Do a ton of question practice.

This is the ultimate guide on how to do exactly that. In this article you’ll find:

• Top recommendations on how to approach studying
• What the top students suggest as best methods
• My personal favorite strategy
• Great pathophysiology study resources
• Links to supplementary learning materials 

Having taken pathophysiology myself (Year 3 Medicine), I know your fears.

Ready to learn more? Let’s go! Contents show

The Best Way To Study Pathophysiology: General Tips

First, let’s talk general tips on the best ways to study pathophysiology. Here’s what you can do to do well in the subject from day one:

• Take one day at a time
• Fix your study environment
• Refresh anatomy and physiology
• Record the lectures
• Take efficient notes
• Use flashcards, study sheets and mnenomics

Let’s expand a little further. There’s also a bunch of extra tips at the end…

Take One Day At A Time

Pathophysiology is very content heavy. Don’t go into this thinking you can ace it in a few nights of study. You’ll need to pace your studying out consistently throughout the course.

Start by looking at your syllabus. Don’t feel intimidated by it or overwhelmed. Thousands of med and nursing students do well in this course every year. There’s no reason you shouldn’t.

Take time to think about your learning style:

• Visual learners: skip to the YouTube recommendations section in this article.
• Mixed learners: think about the textbooks you might want to use. You’ll need something image heavy.
• Auditory learners: check out my pathophysiology podcast recommendation.

Last tip; pathophysiology requires asking why. A lot. Get in that habit now. Seek to get to the bottom of why diseases happen.

Fix Your Study Environment

Kind of an obvious one but make sure you have a suitable place to study. Personally I like coffee shops or libraries. But they’re not great for the next tip.

Find somewhere where you can talk aloud. This is one of the best ways to study pathophysiology; to explain it like you’re teaching it. It makes up my core study philosophy.

Refresh Anatomy And Physiology

Yes, they’re hard but they also make up most of this course. Spending a little time revisiting them is really going to help. Especially if you can incorporate them into pre reading sessions before a class.

There are some great anatomy websites here that can help!

Record The Lectures

I didn’t do this myself as I prefer to skip out on my lectures to learn independently. You might get a lot of value out of it though. Especially if you play your lectures back as you’re walking around or driving etc. 

1.5 or 2X speed if that helps.

Take Efficient Notes

Pathophysiology is one of the few courses I actively took notes on. Handwriting concepts helped reinforce them in my mind. Drawing spider diagrams and mind maps is another good tip.

The best way to take notes is to look at the objectives for each class or module of the course. Then skim your learning materials keeping only those objectives in mind. Just make notes on those things – otherwise you’ll have reams of them and you’ll only end up wasting your time!

Read your text by skimming the headings, looking at the diagrams and reading the short summaries. Don’t sweat reading entire chapters. You have to work smart not hard.

If your course requires you to read journal articles go straight to the discussion and conclusion sections. Forget reading the entire paper!

Use Flashcards, Study Sheets And Mnemonics

Yes, flashcards are the best way to memorize pathophysiology – provided you understand the concepts first. Make your own or search for a good online deck. Avoid using the exact Quizlet decks made by people in your school – you could get caught out! Making your own one-page study sheets and mnemonics can help too. 

A Few Extra Tips

Here are some other popular tips many successful pathophysiology students recommend:

• Know your professor: figure out what they commonly test and expect of their students
• Associate facts with word associations: Feeeeeever promoted by PGE2 (prostaglandin E) for example
• Quiz yourself: practice what you learn with different question types (resources recommended at the end of the article)
• Study groups: great for teaching aloud and explaining concepts to better understand them
• Regularly review mistakes: keep a record of failed questions and review them periodically. Failure is one step closer to success.

What Will I Learn In Pathophysiology?

You’ll learn what is happening in the body due to disease in pathophysiology. You’ll also review anatomy and physiology, as well as pick up new information relevant to courses like pathology and pharmacology too.

It’s well worth spending the time and effort on.

How To Study Pathophysiology In Medical School

I really enjoyed studying pathophysiology in med school. It’s one of those courses where everything you’ve been learning suddenly comes together. 

The best way to study is to follow the general principles explained above. But here’s a little extra:

• Don’t cram: do a little bit of study every day. Always seek to understand first then memorize later.
• Anki: yes, there’s an awesome deck with lots of pathophysiology related cards already available for free download. Search for keywords in the browser and unlock cards accordingly.
• Review book: forget the 952 page beast that is Robbins Basic Pathology. Being in med school you don’t have time for that. Study from the condensed (504 page) review book instead. Then practice every single question in it.

how to make pathophysiology diagram

Flow chart of pathophysiology steps targeted in different recent clinical trials

how to study for pathophysiology and pharmacology

My nursing program actually combined our pharmacology course with pathophysiology and so it was a monster of a class called PathoPharm. It was brutal, as it was our first semester of nursing school. Not only was it an insanely difficult course, we didn’t even know how to study for nursing school exams! So I’m throwing it back to those days 2 years ago to share how I passed pathopharm. Before you go on, realize that you have everything you need, in terms of resources and study materials. A lot of nursing students, including myself at the time, are quick to look beyond their study guides and textbooks. No no no. Don’t buy some random person’s notes on the internet, and don’t use notes from a different school. Your professor is the one making these exams. So why would you use another professor’s powerpoints?

Here’s what I highly recommend you purchase to excel in your pharmacology course: a large whiteboard, lots of flashcards (I liked to get the big ones and cut them in half to make mini ones), and colorful pens/expo markers.

1. FLASHCARDS ARE EVERYTHING. 

I swear by using flashcards for any kind of memorization. And let’s be real, pharm is brute memorization. Sorry to break it to ya this way! But there are tricks: Group those medications in their classes. For example: beta-blockers almost always end in -olol, and benzos almost always end in -zam or -pam. So don’t go make a flashcard for each beta blocker. Make a flashcard for beta blockers in general, and their general side effects: slower HR, fatigue, etc. 

If you’re in a time crunch, you can buy flashcards. However, I highly recommend making your own. The act of writing information with your own handwriting secures that information in your brain, as you can remember when you wrote something.

It also helps to color coordinate your drug groups. For example, since beta blockers are a cardiac drug group, make it red! For antipsychotic drug groups, use purple! Using colors makes studying a little more fun, and the psychology of color-coordinating your study material is fascinating. And it works.  

2. REALIZE THAT YOU CAN’T MEMORIZE EVERY SINGLE DRUG AND SIDE EFFECT OUT THERE.

I think it’s easy to panic at first. Because you think that you have to memorize all the drugs EVER and oh my gosh that means replacing those lyrics from that NSYNC song from 10 years ago!? No no no. You don’t have you memorize everything. Because you can’t. Not you personally, but not anyone ever. This goes back to tip #1. Group those medications together. What are narcotics mainly used for? What are its main side effects? Who mainly needs it? Once you get the hang of that, you’ll start thinking like a nurse! Because let’s be real, I don’t remember the nitty gritty side effects of vasopressors, but I remember that they’re mainly used for hypotensive clients and certain ones work more quickly than others. Easy. Simple.

3. REWRITE. REWRITE. REWRITE. 

This is why I highly recommend that you get a whiteboard. I used mine all throughout nursing school, and my most effective study tactic was standing with my notebook in one hand, and expo marker in another, standing while I wrote out all my meds + side effects, over and over and over again. No whiteboard? No problem. Write it out on paper. Over and over again. Until you get sick of the material and you see it in your sleep! The beauty of writing something out is that you remember this action. You remember how you wrote something, and you remember what color you wrote it in, and you remember what you wrote before it, and after it, and why you wrote something in the way you did. You are making the material yours by re-writing it in your own handwriting, rather than memorizing something that your professor typed up. 

4. MNEMONICS!

Pinterest is an amazing way to find cute pictures or diagrams, but the best mnemonics come from your own mind. Let it be yours, let it be dirty or funny or stupid or silly, as long as it makes sense to you. Here are some that I found helpful: 

 The best part is that there are a ton more options online. If you want to make it fun, make your own! 

5. CONNECT IT TO A MEMORY AND MAKE THAT WARFARIN YOURS.

Last but definitely not least, connect that drug to a patient interaction you’ve had. Or, connect it to a Grey’s Anatomy/ER episode. “PUSH ONE OF EPI!!!” So when you’re tested on the therapeutic class of epinephrine and its side effects, remember what that actor looked like when he/she needed that epi. How did he/she react after that dose of epi? Did they need another drug to add onto the work of epi? How did they administer that epi? 

Most importantly, don’t cram. I know it can be easy to, especially when all your assignments pile up and you can’t help but push some things aside for later. But because pharmacology is so memorization based, you need to expose yourself to the content on a daily basis so that you can truly remember and recall the material. Carry those mini flashcards everywhere, refer to them when you have some free time during your walk to class or while waiting in line for your food. And be sure to stay organized so that you aren’t studying the wrong meds for that exam, or you’re leaving out a whole lecture for that exam (trust me, it’s happened… and I survived).

I hope these tips are helpful. There’s no 1 surefire way to be successful in pharmacology. And there’s no one perfect study method. Find what works for you and keep using it over and over again. And remember that you’re here to be a nurse – not a pharmacist. So think of the big picture rather than stressing over the tiny details. You can do this. And you will.