1rst year meds to memorize

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

Hi, I am curious as to what common meds are asked to be memorized in the fundamentals course. I kind of would like to get some index cards started on these. I have a drug book to look them up. I am hoping you nurses could give me a few names so I can get a head start and know some things ahead of time. I would appreciate any help at all. I am eager to start learning! :)

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Hi,

I am a rising senior in nursing school who had fundamentals last year. In my experience, each one of us had different meds to learn. Because pharmacology is integrated into our curriculum now, rather than being an individual class, meds were learned on a person to person basis. We did, of course, have some basics (basic psych, hypertensive, antibiotics, etc.) that were included on our exams. The majority of the meds that I learned/memorized however, were during my clinical prep time. We didn't really start learning meds until our second semester. My advice would be to learn about meds as you encounter them (see a commercial on TV? Go look up the med!) and wait to see how your fundamentals class formats the learning. Congrats and good luck!!!:yeah:

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Specializes in ER; Primary Care.

I believe for us it was more knowing the different classes of medication rather than each individual medication. And knowing how to recognize each class (meds ending in "lol" are betablockers for example, and meds ending in "pril" are ace inhibitors). From there, you can learn the basic effects/side effects etc. that the different classes of meds have.

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Specializes in Emergency.

There are many threads on this topic in the student nursing assistance forum. That said, I agree that learning the classes is much easier and more effective than brute rote memorization. There will be some drugs you HAVE to know, but getting comfortable with the general classes worked for me.

ymmv

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

thanks guys... i appreciate your feedback. :p

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The drugs will come, but i know as a student its fun just to start looking things up and sometimes you don't even know where to start. Here are some basics that you can look up but i agree with the above statements that learning as you connect the dots to a disease process really helps build and keep connections needed for drug knowledge.

lasix

insulin all types

tylenol

ibuprofen

digoxin

coumadin

colace

milk of magnesia

heparin

omeprazole

plavix

These are just a few that I saw a lot in my clinicals most patients have prophylactic prn meds like tylenol and omeprazole or colace. Happy studying!!

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I can't really help you too much because I just completed my first semester of school, but I did purchase the nurse's Med Deck, which has index cards with info like use, route, interactions, nursing assessment for the pt taking the drug, etc. It was very helpful and not too expensive.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Nurses-Med-Deck/Judith-Hopfer-Deglin/e/9780803614567/?itm=4&USRI=nurses+med+deck

Here is a link to an older version. I think I paid around $35-40 for it at the college bookstore.

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If you just want straight memorization, google "top 200 drugs" it comes up with lists of names by year. These are the top drugs prescribed each year, so you will run into them a lot.

This site was really helpful for me.

Study table about Top 200 Drugs-2008

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I believe for us it was more knowing the different classes of medication rather than each individual medication. And knowing how to recognize each class (meds ending in "lol" are betablockers for example, and meds ending in "pril" are ace inhibitors). From there, you can learn the basic effects/side effects etc. that the different classes of meds have.

This worked for me when I was studying. It's hard to memorize all the drugs in the drug handbook but its good to start from their classifications. From there you can compare the difference between each same drug class (e.g. omeprazole, pantoprazole, etc.)

Our professor encouraged us to read at least one drug per day and told us that before we knew it, we'd know more than 365 in a year!

Also, read the drug handbook whenever you are not familiar with a certain drug. Best moment that you will retain info about a drug is when you searched it on the handbook, prepare it, and actually teach the patient the possible side effects and all the extra precautions.

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just had a question, I have Pharmacology next semester, would the previous tips help for that course It will be my second semester, and we have basic nursing as well/Is that the same thing as Fundamentals? Thanks

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No, Fundamentals is a fairly new course that is part of an integrated curriculum, meaning, you don't have an individual pharmacology class anymore, all the meds and their classes, indications, interactions, etc. are incorporated into the entire curriculum. However, these study tips will most definitely help you in your pharmacology class as they all related to meds and that is EXACTLY what your pharm class is about! Good luck!

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