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This is the worst class I've taken at NUI Galway. It concerns four lecturers: Dr. John Kelly, Dr. Philip Welsby, Dr Maura Grealy and Dr. Eilís Dowd. I learned practically nothing useful and this class is in my major. They can't teach. Their lessons are all over the place. They said that this class requires no prior knowledge, yet they go through the material like we already know it. Some of the stuff they talk about is stuff that I've learned and forgotten in other classes, yet just a horrible teacher. Dr. Eilís Dowd was terrible. She was boring and unless you wrote down literally every word she said you could not do well on the quizzes. Dr Maura Grealy would get very short with students who tried to question her opinions and you got marked off if your opinions did not match hers. A horrible teacher who can't make sense out of any of it. She is all over the place in her lecture and is very disorganized. Dr. John Kelly makes mistakes in class and corrects them during the next class. He can also be rude as might be expected from a british person. Dr. Philip Welsby is boring and unhelpful and everyone has a very hard time trying to stay awake. If you are unfortunate enough to get him, switch! His tests are on everything that he does not lecture on and you have a hard time learning anything and it just hurts your GPA.
They all teach off of powerpoints that you waste tons of paper printing off the internet and then their tests are nothing like the powerpoints but just way confusing. Don't take Pharmacology or Toxicology at NUIG or Athlone Institute of Technology! It is like a nightmare come true; their tests are very hard and their grading is very hard.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I only saw this page after it was linked on another discussion site following a question about the course and I have to say that it is one of the most unfair comments I have seen. While I cannot speak about the Athlone IT portion of the course (it doesn't really matter as your comments are totally focused on NUIG staff), as someone who has passed through the department I can say that it in no way represents the feeling of the majority of students. I have to completely disagree with your portrayal of the named lecturers. It just comes across like you have a serious chip on your shoulder for some reason. As you saw fit to talk about individual lecturers, I am just going to take a few lines to tell it as I saw it. Rude is a word I have never heard associated with Dr. Kelly and to be honest seeing him in anything other than really good form is a very rare event. Dr. Welsby's style of teaching is not in any way boring. Not everyone finds drug design and development or ligand binding the most interesting of topics but his method of delivery was always upbeat and he knew what he was talking about. The assessment of Dr. Dowd is way off too. Her lectures were all focused and well planned. If you found her lectures boring then I really think you are in the wrong game. Dr. Grealy used to ask a lot of question in class to get people to think. There was banter over and back as to why things might occur but to say that you got marked off if your opinions did not match hers is really stretching it. You talk about not doing well on quizzes unless you write down every work she said and you touch on this topic in general at then end. You are not in 2nd level education any more and there is no reason why you should be spoon-fed information. This is a Masters degree and with that comes the need for a certain level of self directed and motivated learning. The same is true at undergrad level to a certain degree. Pharmacology and toxicology are two constantly changing fields (which makes them very interesting to study) and to have some grasp of what is currently being researched is what separates people when it comes to exams. To say that prior knowledge is not essential is true. In terms of the Masters degree, psychology graduates for example made up a good part of the class and at the end of the year they were right up there with everyone from a science background. At the end of the day, you get out what you put in to it. No course at this level should be easy but you cannot blanket blame the lecturers the way you have here because you found the exams difficult. It is totally doable and very interesting but it does take work.
Ok, rant over but the original comment was too one-sided and unfair to be let go. Two final things: to the comment about Dr. Kellys nationality...it kinda says a lot about you. Also, to the person who posted up the bank of MCQ questions...what was the point?
How can you take the person that made this complain seriously?
"He can also be rude as might be expected from a british person."
Pre-judged, un-called for. Don't take this person seriously.
From another Pharm student at NUIG
For all its worth, can you really take the person amking the complaint seriously? The ruining comment being "He can also be rude as might be expected from a british person."
Enough said.
NUIG Pharmacology MCQ Bank
Here are 24 MCQ questions we got asked by dr john kelly, dr eilis dowd, dr maura grealy, and dr eilis dowd:
1. Which of the following is NOT a consequence of nerve gas (irreversible anticholinesterase) poisoning?
Correct Answer: Constipation
2. One of the following statements is true:
Correct Answer: K-1 is the dissociation rate constant
3. Which of the following pharmacological approaches could cause bradycardia as a side effect?
Correct Answer: A muscarinic receptor agonist
4. The rectal route of administration
Correct Answer: Is suitable for persons with nausea and vomiting
5. Which of the following pharmacological approaches could cause constipation as a side effect?
Correct Answer: A muscarinic receptor antagonist
6. If a drug is administered repeatedly at the same dose and dosage interval, the time required to reach the steady-state plasma drug concentration is proportional to the
Correct Answer: Elimination half-life
7. A calculated volume of distribution greater than total body water is most likely to occur with drugs that are
Correct Answer: Highly lipid soluble
8. A drug with a therapeutic index of 7 would have:
Correct Answer: An ED50 of 4 mg/kg and an LD50 of 28 mg/kg
9. One of the following is true about chemical transmission:
Correct Answer: Inactivation of the neurotransmitter response can be enzymatic
10. One of the following is true:
Correct Answer: Drugs are often classified according to their mechanism of action
11. Most drugs are absorbed across cell membranes of the gut by the process of
Correct Answer: diffusing through lipid
12. One of the following is true:
Correct Answer: Irreversible competitive antagonists bind to the same site as an agonist
13. The binding of drugs to plasma albumin
Correct Answer: Is saturable
14. Which of the following statements is true?
Correct Answer: In the parasympathetic nervous system, the preganglionic neuron is cholinergic and the postganglionic neuron is cholinergic
15. Transdermal drug administration
Correct Answer: Is not subject to first-pass hepatic metabolism
16. Hepatic cytochrome P450 drug-metabolizing enzymes are primarily found in
Correct Answer: The smooth endoplasmic reticulum
17. Which of the following pharmacological strategies could be used to treat hypotonia of the bladder smooth muscle?
Correct Answer: A muscarinic receptor agonist
18. Which of the following drugs could be used to treat diarrhoea?
Correct Answer: Atropine
19. The volume of plasma from which a drug is eliminated in a unit of time is known as the
Correct Answer: Clearance
20. Which of the following is the correct sequence of chemical reactions in the biosynthesis of the hormone adrenaline from the amino acid tyrosine?
Correct Answer: Hydroxylation, decarboxylation, hydroxylation, methyl group transfer
21. A dose-response curve:
Correct Answer: Has an ED50 value which is the dose that produces 50% of the maximal response
22. Atropine can be classified as a:
Correct Answer: Belladonna alkaloid
23. According to Hollinger, which of the following is a category of drugs:
Correct Answer: Drugs that alter behavior
24. Which of the following statements is true?
Correct Answer: In the sympathetic nervous system, the preganglionic neuron is cholinergic and the postganglionic neuron is noradrenergic