A pharmacology concept map you can edit: one list per drug class

How drugs are grouped, and why one prototype per class

OpenStax's *Pharmacology for Nurses* (section 1.3, read November 2, 2026) says most drugs are classified in two ways. A therapeutic classification is what the drug is used for, such as antihypertensive or antianginal. A pharmacologic classification is how it works, its mechanism of action, such as beta-adrenergic blocker. The book's example is metoprolol, which is both an antianginal and an antihypertensive but has the same mechanism, side effects and safety points either way.

The same section describes the prototype approach: once drugs are sorted into classes, one drug is used as the class representative and the rest are compared to it. If you know metoprolol well, you know roughly what to expect from atenolol. The ready board follows this: each list is a class, and the prototype is in the title.

The example: five blood pressure classes

The board covers the five classes in chapter 18 of the same textbook that work on blood pressure. The strip at the top shows why there are five: blood pressure is cardiac output times peripheral resistance, and cardiac output is heart rate times stroke volume. Each class pulls a different lever.

Two lists on the board exist because the classes look alike. Mix-ups collects the points that trip people up: ACE inhibitors and ARBs say avoid potassium salt substitutes, while thiazides say eat potassium-rich foods; the cough belongs mostly to ACE inhibitors; both ACE inhibitors and ARBs need a pregnancy conversation first; the pulse check belongs to beta blockers. Ask in class holds what the textbook can't answer for you, such as whether your exam wants prototypes only.

Build your own, step by step

1. 1Pick one family from your course unit, such as blood pressure, anticoagulants or antibiotics. A map that tries to hold the whole course stops being readable.
2. 2Add one list per class. Put the class and its prototype drug in the list title.
3. 3Add the same four cards to every list: How it works, Side effects, Watch for, Teach the client. Same questions in every list is what lets you compare classes at a glance.
4. 4Draw or type a short strip at the top that shows what ties the classes together, as the board does with the blood pressure equation.
5. 5Add a Mix-ups list for look-alike facts, and an Ask in class list for open questions.
6. 6To study, cover the lists and say each class's lever and prototype out loud. Tick the self-quiz items you get, and redo the rest tomorrow.

Cards and lists can be dragged, so you can later regroup the same cards by disease (hypertension, heart failure) instead of by class. A card can also open into its own board if one drug needs a longer page.

What a board adds to a printable template, and where a printable is better

• Moves and regroups. Drag a class next to the one you confuse it with, or pull the mix-ups beside the lists they came from.
• One link to share. Send the board to a study partner. Anyone can look at it without an account; to write on it, they sign in for free with Google, Apple or email.
• Draw and type on the same page. A hand-drawn mechanism sketch can sit beside the cards.
• A printable is better if your instructor hands out a required form, wants a fixed layout, or grades a printed page. Fill that one in and use the board for your own study version.
• A flashcard app is better if you want spaced repetition. A board has a tickable checklist, not a scheduler.

What Instaboard doesn't do

• No drug database, no dose or interaction checker, no AI. Every card is something you type or paste yourself.
• The layout is manual. There is no pharmacology template that fills itself in; the ready board is a layout to copy.
• No handwriting search and no conversion of handwriting to text. The eraser removes a whole stroke at a time.
• Editing needs a free sign-in. Viewing a board by link doesn't.
• The free plan is 5 boards and 150 items (cards, lists, images, text boxes; pen strokes, sections and arrows don't count), with 3 images and 1 file per board. This example uses 34 cards, so one board per unit works better than one per drug.
• No import from other note apps. Full-board PDF export works only on drawing boards and trip planners; for a card board, selected cards and lists can be saved as an image.
• Changes made offline are kept and sync when you're back online, but it isn't an offline-first app.

Questions