10 drugs every nurse should know?

[jbphburg]

I'm going through pharm, just wondering if a list of the most commonly administered meds could be tossed up that one would do well to commit to memory.

[RNMeg]

It's really going to depend on what area of nursing you end up in. For example, as a cardiac nurse, I should really know everything about amiodarone, but I might not need to know about Cervidil. In a pharmacology class, you'd be better off studying general classes of drugs (like calcium channel blockers, proton pump inhibitors, benzodiazepines, etc). If you know what class a drug is in, and know general information about that class, you'll be fine. :heartbeat

[jbphburg]

Thanks :)

[CorazonDeOro]

I actually have a list of common meds that I keep on my clinical clipboard...out of all of them I would say I give these the most: (on general med surg unit)

Lasix, Pepcid, Heparin, Prednisone, Insulin (Novolog, NPH, Lantus), Vicodin/Lortab, Morphine, Lopressor, Prilosec, Coumadin, Potassium Chloride, Dilaudid, Unasyn, Flagyl

But I guess it depends what kind of unit you are on.

[jbphburg]

Thanks!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I have a list from my last clinicals I will try to find and post, it might not be until this weekend.

Digoxin is an important one to know and you need to take Apical Pulse before administering and be aware of the S/S of Digoxin toxicity as it is a very narrow margin and things like potassium can effect it.

You need to know INR or PTT levels for things like Coumadin and Heparin or lovenax. Our pyxsis machine at the hospital automatically prompts for this.

The different insulin's.

Need to know the common Blood Pressure meds which names are escaping me now, because getting a new BP before administering are a must as well.

I saw all of these on every unit I was on which was, Medical, Surgical, Med-Surge for my first hospital clinicals.

Also need to watch for RR after narcotic administration especially Morphine and especially if the Pt is narcotic naive. Also pay attnetion to the tylenol levels in like Vicodin and Percocet if the pt is taking like 2 ever 4 hours. I think the daily max is still 4000 mg and sometimes you can see some high tylenol levels in some of the dosages and it can add it up quick.

I will look for that list for you over the weekend and post it though. Those are just off the top of my head.

[Saysfaa]

I'd make a list from cross referencing most commonly given meds and most likely to have interactions with other meds (esp life threatening or irreversible damage type interactions) or most likely to have sudden and/or serious side effects.

[murphyle, BSN, RN]

The answer to that question completely depends on your unit and specialty. For example, we dealt with all kinds of drugs in CV-SICU that I never saw on Med/Surg, likewise floor meds that I've never run across in Emergency.

In my EC, our biggies are:

* opioids (morphine, codeine/hydrocodone and combinations, hydromorphone),

* nitro vasodilators (nitroglycerin SL, IV - we don't mess with nitroprusside much in EC),

* B-blockers,

* NSAIDs,

* furosemide,

* steroids,

* broad-spectrum antibiotics (mostly cephalosporins and quinolones),

* sedatives (mostly benzodiazepines, rarely propofol IV drip),

* inhaled short-acting beta-agonists,

* short-acting insulins and regular insulin drips (patients don't generally stay with us long enough to get NPH, let alone detemir or glargine),

* heparin (we hardly ever give warfarin, but we reverse it all the time),

* antidotes and reversal agents (naloxone, activated charcoal, phytonadione, digoxin Fab, flumazenil, etc).

ACLS/PALS drugs are a whole other bag, of course.

Hope this helps!

[marty6001, EdD, EMT-P, APRN]

Here you go.. These are the top ten i give my students:

Heparin

Coumadin

Lovenox

Cardizem

Metoprolol

Lantis Insulin

Aspart Insulin

Regular Insulin

Lasix

Narcan

All for different reasons, but really any nurse should know these!!