Drug Cards

during your clinical rotations, are you to make a drug card or can you use the pre-made cards?

what nursing drug reference book do you own?

although we are able to use the pre-made drug cards, i am going to write mine out. this will help the information stick for me.

if we come on site without knowing something about our patients medications, we will get a 0 for the day and of course will not be able to administer meds/pt.care, as it should be.

[Gator,SN]

Hi Love-a-nurse!!

At my school, during first year, we could make drug cards ourselves or buy the Med Deck and use those. I even just xerox copied the pages from Davis's drug guide and highlighted the side effects, interactions, etc..

For second year, we needed less info and have a form to fill out. We are pretty much grilled at the drug cart, orally, before giving a med, so instead of having it all written out, it better be in memory. This helps me learn the drug a lot better because I am accountable to KNOW what to expect.

I have Davis's and the pharm textbook that I use. I also go online if I need to find something.

Good luck with pharm. :)

Gator

Oh and by the way.....some people in my class that know how to use a computer and printer, put the required info in a program and then as they needed the drug, just printed them out on an index card. Wish I knew how to do that.....its much better!

[CountrifiedRN]

We're not required to make drug cards, but we bring our drug guides to clinicals. The first two semesters we had to go to the hospital a day before cliniclas to get our pt info and look up meds and dx before caring for the patient. But after that we go in to clinicals, get our assignment, and look up our drugs before they are due.

We use the Davis drug guide, and this semester we had to get an IV drug guide.

[EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN]

We have to write out drug cards for all of our patients' meds, even though we have Davis drug guide in our PDA's.

[brenzgrove]

I am studying for comps now and i wish i would have done the cards relevant to each clinical at the time of the clinicals...I am just starting to write out drug cards...I was thinking its a waste of time, but i agree it will help me to retain the info better.

[brenzgrove]

sorry i forgot to mention that i use Davis' drug guide...i think i have the 1999 edition.

[nursbee04]

We had to do drug cards for our pt's too. We used Davis' Drug Guide. I typed mine, because for me it was quicker than writing. I don't think I would remember that much if I had used the premade. For some reason, typing it or writing it makes it stick for me better than just reading it, but everyone's different.

[Love-A-Nurse]

originally posted by gator,sn

hi love-a-nurse!!

at my school, during first year, we could make drug cards ourselves or buy the med deck and use those. i even just xerox copied the pages from davis's drug guide and highlighted the side effects, interactions, etc..

for second year, we needed less info and have a form to fill out. we are pretty much grilled at the drug cart, orally, before giving a med, so instead of having it all written out, it better be in memory. this helps me learn the drug a lot better because i am accountable to know what to expect.

i have davis's and the pharm textbook that i use. i also go online if i need to find something.

good luck with pharm. :)

gator

oh and by the way.....some people in my class that know how to use a computer and printer, put the required info in a program and then as they needed the drug, just printed them out on an index card. wish i knew how to do that.....its much better!

gator, how are you!

thanks for the tip regarding the computer.

[Love-A-Nurse]

originally posted by rn2bnc

we're not required to make drug cards, but we bring our drug guides to clinicals. the first two semesters we had to go to the hospital a day before cliniclas to get our pt info and look up meds and dx before caring for the patient. but after that we go in to clinicals, get our assignment, and look up our drugs before they are due.

we use the davis drug guide, and this semester we had to get an iv drug guide.

thanks for the reply. i am looking to up-date my old drug book and will look at the davis drug guide.

[Love-A-Nurse]

originally posted by emeraldnyl

we have to write out drug cards for all of our patients' meds, even though we have davis drug guide in our pda's.

thanks for the reply, nikki.

[Love-A-Nurse]

originally posted by brenzgrove

i am studying for comps now and i wish i would have done the cards relevant to each clinical at the time of the clinicals...i am just starting to write out drug cards...i was thinking its a waste of time, but i agree it will help me to retain the info better.

i don't highlight my books any more because writing it down helps to retain it better too.

[Love-A-Nurse]

originally posted by nursbee04

we had to do drug cards for our pt's too. we used davis' drug guide. i typed mine, because for me it was quicker than writing. i don't think i would remember that much if i had used the premade. for some reason, typing it or writing it makes it stick for me better than just reading it, but everyone's different.

i agree; writing/typing does help to retain it and therefore it sticks, for the most part.