Thursday, September 4, 2014

Cephalosporins mnemonic

I don't usually recommend mnemonics for remembering drug names because over time you get so used to them that you don't exactly need a mnemonic for it.

But if it's your first year in pharmacology, it's a lot to take in. I did make some memory aids for studying generations of cephalosporins but after a while, I promise you won't need them.

I used to remember three drugs from each generation.

I associated first generation with the alphabet A.
"Alo, Azo, Adro."
CephALOthin, CefAZOlin, CefADROxil.

I associated second generation with the alphabet F.
"Fur, Fox, Fac."
CeFURoxime, CeFOXitin, CeFAClor.

I associated Third generation with the alphabet T.
"Taxi, Tizoxi, Tazidi, Triax."
CefoTAXIme, CefTIZOXIme, CefTAZIDIme.
Notice the "me" everywhere!

A comes first, next comes F and then comes T; alphabetically. So easy to recollect!

Fourth generation: "Epic Queen of pi & Rome"
Cefepime, Cefquinome, Cefpirome.

It's lame, memorize it for now & forget it later :D
Hope it helps!
-IkaN

17 comments:

  1. You forgot cefixime which is actually a third generation cephalosporin; so the "T's" don't work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This mnemonic was made to write theory exams.. So I haven't included ALL cephalosporins, just three drugs from each generation that have something in common so that it's easy to remember.

      Delete
  2. Btw In last your "Lame " word is not in vein!! ;) lol!
    Cephalosporins don't have activities against these Lame:

    L-listeria
    A-atypical(mycoplasma & chalamydia)
    M- MRSA(except 5th one!)
    E-enterococci

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A mnemonic in the mnemonic post. Mnemoninception! :P

      Pure genius btw!

      Delete
  3. THis is a savor at Exam night :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad it saved your soul from the haunting cephalosporins tonight :P

      Delete
  4. Thank you , Merci , Obrigado , danke , arigatto , شكراا =))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Pas de problème, Não tem de quê, bitte, gozaimasu, afwan.

      Delete
  5. This is so cool! Thank u so much! 😁

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great hekp in the USMLE too .. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. For 1st generation this may help..
    DR LO LO'S LUX in ZOO-
    cefaDRoxil
    cephaLOridine
    cefaLOthin
    cefaLUXin
    cefaZOOlin

    ReplyDelete

This is express yourself space. Where you type create something beautiful! <3
Wondering what do I write? Well...
Tell us something you know better. You are a brilliant mind. Yes, you are! ^__^
Ask about something you don't understand @_@?
Compliment... Say something nice! =D
Be a good critic and correct us if something went wrong :|
Go ahead. Comment all you like here! (:

PS: We have moderated comments to reduce spam. ALL comments that are not spam will be published on the website.