Do you still have to refer to material or do you memorize it all?

[kstrac13]

When it comes to medicines and diagnosis i was wondering if nurses with years and years of experience remember everything such as medicines and diagnosis's or do some still have to refer to the text books ? Is it ok if you cant remember everything and have to revert to material?

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Being able to say "I don't know, but I'll find out for you" is an especially important phrase for a new nurse to learn when confronted with questions from patients/family. It's tempting to wing it to save face. But, ultimately, nothing will make you look more incompetent than trying to bluff your way through something you're not sure of.

[julz68]

I used to model that to students. Someone would ask me a question and I would say, "Gee, let's look that up."[/quote']

When I was in nursing school, those were the type of instructors I learned the most from! One in particular, who a lot of students dreaded, would always ask us "why is this med given, for what reason, for this particular disease process, etc"

I learned Sooo much from her! And to this day, I look up stuff all the time to make sure I totally understand things. Plus, it helps when teaching the patients. :)

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

I look stuff up all the time. If you work in a certain area you will probably give a lot of the same meds - I work ortho and I'm very familiar with pain meds, bowel meds, anticoagulants, antibiotics, etc. However there will be meds you aren't familiar with and odd diagnoses or medical history (Wegener's, anyone?)

A few nurses I work with NEVER look anything up and don't have curiosity, only irritation.