In this article an infectious diseases pharmacist discusses 4 key tips that should be observed to help learn antibiotics both for the classroom and for clinical practice.
AI Generated Summary
This article outlines four key strategies to make learning antibiotics more manageable: start with core memorization, organize drugs into groups, focus on exceptions, and use existing knowledge to infer answers. By combining these approaches, students can build confidence and improve retention of complex antibiotic concepts.
Written By: Timothy P. Gauthier, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCIDP with minor assistance from ChatGPT
Article Posted 30 August 2025
Have you ever looked at all of the antibiotic information that you need to learn and felt totally overwhelmed? Infectious diseases is an area of study that many (all?) students struggle with. In my experience it is one of the specialties with the highest failure rates for pharmacy students.
Learning antibiotics is hard because it involves the delicate interplay between microorganisms, pharmacotherapy, and patient factors. There are many “rules” to learn, but almost every one of them has an exception. That’s why we like to jokingly say that ID does not stand for infectious diseases, it stands for it depends.
If you want to feel less anxiety and stress about mastering antibiotics, become part of the LearnAntibiotics.com community where members get access to resources that can support them as a student through into licensing and clinical practice. As you use these resources, here are 4 key tips that everyone should know as they try to learn antibiotics.
Tip 1. You Have To Memorize Some Things, START Your Study Strategy Here
If you can’t identify which bacteria is gram negative or gram positive based on the name, it’s going to be very difficult for you to know which ones vancomycin can treat (for gram positives only) versus what aztreonam can treat (for gram negatives only). As you move to the more the more complex parts of antibiotic selection, your ability to apply concepts and predict likely outcomes will depend on your foundational ability to identify and define things.
It is honestly a pain in the neck to have to memorize so much information, but starting off knowing this is so important so you don’t waste time. Take strategies for memorizing information that work for you and put them to work. Home made flash cards, writing down information, reviewing cheat sheets over and over, practicing fill-in-the blanks, and doing word searches can help. It is highly dependent on the learner for what works for memorization, which is why Learn Antibiotics offers so many different resources.
Tip 2: Place Items Into Groups When You can
This works really well for bugs and drugs. Which antibiotics cover Pseudomonas? Which antibiotics cover MRSA? These are fundamentals that you can get from lists. I provide a table of bugs and drugs that are grouped in this article here which may be helpful.
One example of an association I use is with SMX/TMP and amphotericin B. SMX/TMP can cause hyperkalemia (especially at high-doses) and amphotericin B can cause hypokalemia. These drugs are totally different, but the common item helps me remember the electrolyte issues that can arise.
Another example is with dalbavancin, oritavancin, and rezafungin. They can be grouped because they all have very long half-lives which allow dosing as low as once weekly.
When you have to list a set of drugs for having a certain characteristic, do it by drug class. For example when you have to name all the anti-pseudomonals, first think about penicillins, then cephalosporins, then carbapenems, then monobactams, then make sure you didn’t forget any beta-lactam/ beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations, then aminoglycosides, then fluoroquinolones, etc. Having a process for recall can help a lot, use this tip!
Tip 3. Make Note Of The Exceptions
Sometimes it’s actually easier to learn the exception rather than the rule. Here are some examples:
◦ The vast majority of antimicrobials require renal dose adjustments. Rather than memorizing the ones that do, memorize those that don’t. For example ceftriaxone, oxacillin/ nafcillin, amphotericin B, and metronidazole are a few drugs I would put on that list for a pharmacology test.
◦ Fluoroquinolones are generally good for UTI, but not moxifloxacin. Put that one on a list of not for UTI.
◦ Clindamycin is pretty good for anti-anaerobic coverage, but it’s not good against Bacteroides fragilis
◦ Tigecycycline covers a ton of bacteria including gram negatives, gram positives, and anaerobes, but it does not cover Pseudomonas, Proteus, or Providencia. You can sometimes make mnemonics or acronyms to help remember these things. My preceptor taught me “PPP” to remember this one.
Tip 4. Leverage What You Know, Because You Know More Than You Realize
A preceptor or professor may ask you questions you do not have direct answers for. For example, say they ask about the utility of fluconazole for meningitis. Off-hand you may have on idea. But perhaps you just learned about opportunistic infections and that fluconazole has a role for cryptococcal meningitis. Well if it can be used for that then certainly it does have utility!
Another example to help frame this tip is with coverage. Say someone asks you to list antibiotics that cover Streptococcus pneumoniae. Given that this is the most common cause of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) pretty much any agent you list for CAP treatment is going to have Strep. pneumo activity.
As a preceptor it’s cool to teach people this because they sometimes doubt themselves but we teachers know that you have more knowledge than you realize, it’s about helping you tap into it!
Join the Learn Antibiotics Community
Share these key tips with your peers so that they can succeed in their studies. Become part of the Learn Antibiotics community to leverage resources that will support you in your journey to becoming an antibiotic ninja. Learning antibiotics is hard. Everyone struggles with it. Make your life easier by getting the best resources today!
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or policy of any past, current, or potential future employer.
RECOMMENDED TO YOU
