Drug Card

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Hey,

My name is Lorreen and I am new here! I am pursing a Practical Nursing diploma and I would like some help on my drug card.

I did my drug card on wafarin, and I had a hard time understanding how to word the mechanism of action for wafarin. The professor didn't really offer any help so I was wondering if anyone could explain to me how to write out one.

I know that wafarin is a blood thinner that should be not be taken in combination with heparin, or aspirin. I was mistaken that this was a mechanism of action. What would I write as my moa for wafarin?

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

Review coagulation cascade

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Welcome! We've moved your thread to our Nursing Student Assistance forum for more responses and feedback. Good luck with your practical nursing program.

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I just read through congulation cascade on some website but the language is still too technical. Is there somewhere I can look it up with simpler language?

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You can check out some you tube videos or medscape. I usually find those very helpful, but I would probably look up the role of vitamin K and its role in clotting factors.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Coumadin, Jantoven (warfarin) dosing, indications, interactions, adverse effects, and more

I use this website as a reference.

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1) We don't call them "blood thinners" because that's misleading; anticoagulants don't really "thin" the blood, and you would have to be teaching the patient about the anticoagulation thing anyway, so call them by their correct names.

2) There are many, many times when heparin and Coumadin (warfarin) are given at the same time. Why is this? Learn a little bit about blood clotting studies and what they tell you -- a terrific book for this is "Laboratory Studies and Diagnostic tests with Nursing Implications," because the author, Joyce Lafever Kee, a nurse, answers the important question: Why do we care? Then you'll know, and you'll never forget. It's cool.

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1) We don't call them "blood thinners" because that's misleading; anticoagulants don't really "thin" the blood, and you would have to be teaching the patient about the anticoagulation thing anyway, so call them by their correct names.

2) There are many, many times when heparin and Coumadin (warfarin) are given at the same time. Why is this? Learn a little bit about blood clotting studies and what they tell you -- a terrific book for this is "Laboratory Studies and Diagnostic tests with Nursing Implications," because the author, Joyce Lafever Kee, a nurse, answers the important question: Why do we care? Then you'll know, and you'll never forget. It's cool.

I think that's a required text for the new program I hope to apply for

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An advice for pharm in general is that you can endlessly study for it, there's a whole career on it. As a student nurse, you should be okay with what they are teaching you in class, the basics, you can iron out all of the small details as you go along. I made an app, it contains drug classes, drugs associated with the classes (generic and brand name), and all of the information school, clinicals, and the NCLEX required me to know such as MOA's, vitals, labs, common/severe side effects and nursing considerations to watch for. Check it out, its free, it's on the app stores or through our website nclexessentials.barcalabs.com. Good luck. I just passed my nclex last August and this guide is all I studied to prep for pharm.

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