Drug cards...

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 12, 2005

We bought our drug cards and our instructors let us hand those in. She just put a small red check mark in the corner so that she knew we had already used that one. We had to do 3 for each careplan and had to do different drugs with each one.

I'm amazed that's ok with your instructors! I realize, in reading through replies on this thread, that it seems common to use the ready-made or pre-printed info on commercial cards. It just seems weird to me at this point, after having each clinical instructor so far (at my school) tell us that if we're just copying from the book, we're not really learning it. And one instructor said that she used to allow students to photocopy ready-made cards to hand in, but she doesn't believe the students were even reading them, so now she has us all do the question/answers specific to the patient(s) we were assigned that day, each day. Anything else gets rejected.

Is this only happening at my school??

truern · Aug 13, 2005

We have to use the individual CI's drug sheet guide, but they usually include the drug, it's action in our own words, indications for use, common SEs, life-threatening SEs, nursing implications, and evaluation of effectiveness.

And we'd better know exactly WHY our client is receiving a drug...not just what the drug book suggests. We also have to list any pertinent lab values, weights, etc.

I must say, however, I don't understand writing drug cards for medications your client isn't receiving?? Only in Maternity Nursing did we have a "standard" list of drugs to do cards for.

krob0729 · Aug 13, 2005

I'm amazed that's ok with your instructors! I realize, in reading through replies on this thread, that it seems common to use the ready-made or pre-printed info on commercial cards. It just seems weird to me at this point, after having each clinical instructor so far (at my school) tell us that if we're just copying from the book, we're not really learning it. And one instructor said that she used to allow students to photocopy ready-made cards to hand in, but she doesn't believe the students were even reading them, so now she has us all do the question/answers specific to the patient(s) we were assigned that day, each day. Anything else gets rejected.
Is this only happening at my school??

Even though we did this, we had better be able to tell her about the drug, s/e, etc, and all the other stuff. She had us tell her about it as we pulled the med up.

krob0729 · Aug 13, 2005

A little piece of advice for those who will be doing drug cards, start doing them BEFORE you start your clinicals. I was up until 3 am the other night doing med cards and textbook pictures of my patient's diagnoses. I was so afraid that I would oversleep and miss clinicals after that that I couldnt go to sleep! Aaahhhh! Clinicals after no sleep!!!! Mosby's Top 200 drugs is a good place to start. I have about 50 of them now, but you can bet I'm working on getting them all done now because I do not want another night like I just had! :chuckle

how can you start before clinicals? You don't even know what pt. you're gonna have yet or what drugs they're on. How is this possible?

lisamc1RN, LPN · Aug 13, 2005

how can you start before clinicals? You don't even know what pt. you're gonna have yet or what drugs they're on. How is this possible?

Do the most common drugs. You are bound to use most of them at some point. :) Here are the top 200 drugs used, according to Mosby.http://www.mosbysdrugconsult.com/DrugConsult/Top_200/

I've done 50 drug cards already. All of them are in the top 200. I've already used 30 of them for my patients. I'm adding more before my next clinical, too. You know your pt is probably going to be on some pain meds, maybe an antidepressant. Do the insulins, bp meds, respiratory drugs, Digoxin, anticoagulants, and antibiotics. That will get you started and you probably won't regret getting those out of the way. And if you don't ever use some of them, then you will have at least learned something about them for when you enter med-surg classes! :)

lisamc1RN, LPN · Aug 13, 2005

EastTXLvn, I just read that you only had to do 3 drug cards per careplan, so I can definitely understand why you might not want to put any extra time toward all those other drug cards! I am green with envy! :chuckle If our patient has 30 drugs, then you have to have 30 drug cards completed. The highest number so far for the students in my class is 28 for one patient. This included prns and hs meds, but we still had to do them. OY! :)

chicagrl72 · Aug 13, 2005

My cards are posted here, along with a bunch of other files:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/allnursesstudents/
They are in Word format so they are editable if anyone wants to use them. Why reinvent the wheel?

thanks for offering up all your "stuff" to us

your group is AWESOME

how are will and mitch doing ? :)

krob0729 · Aug 13, 2005

EastTXLvn, I just read that you only had to do 3 drug cards per careplan, so I can definitely understand why you might not want to put any extra time toward all those other drug cards! I am green with envy! :chuckle If our patient has 30 drugs, then you have to have 30 drug cards completed. The highest number so far for the students in my class is 28 for one patient. This included prns and hs meds, but we still had to do them. OY! :)

Well, we had 3 careplans per night for 3 pts per day. The longest part was coming up with 3 nursing dx and then 3 interventions for each dx for each pt. That's what would take us hours at night to do. Trust me, it wasn't any easier handing in the drug cards.

lisamc1RN, LPN · Aug 13, 2005

Well, we had 3 careplans per night for 3 pts per day. The longest part was coming up with 3 nursing dx and then 3 interventions for each dx for each pt. That's what would take us hours at night to do. Trust me, it wasn't any easier handing in the drug cards.

No, that doesn't sound any easier. Careplans are hard! I guess it's just the destiny of every nursing student to have long nights preparing for clinicals! :)

Curious1alwys, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Well, I crammed and crammed and had to do my check offs before I saw that this thread had gone wild!! WOW! Thank you for the link to Mosby's! Will be a BIG help. I think I will start storing all the info in my computer for later use, in my own words...:)

Do the most common drugs. You are bound to use most of them at some point. :) Here are the top 200 drugs used, according to Mosby.http://www.mosbysdrugconsult.com/DrugConsult/Top_200/
I've done 50 drug cards already. All of them are in the top 200. I've already used 30 of them for my patients. I'm adding more before my next clinical, too. You know your pt is probably going to be on some pain meds, maybe an antidepressant. Do the insulins, bp meds, respiratory drugs, Digoxin, anticoagulants, and antibiotics. That will get you started and you probably won't regret getting those out of the way. And if you don't ever use some of them, then you will have at least learned something about them for when you enter med-surg classes! :)

Curious1alwys, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Anywhere to go online where you can get lists of drugs classified as "antiarrythmics" or "antihypertensives" (you get the picture) so that I can store them like that in my computer, you know, under classification?? Probably be the best way......

Thanks in advance!

leopold · Aug 13, 2005

Some of my classmates did the copy and paste but I decided that I would be a true blue dedicated student and do it myself. (also, I'm a techno-idiot and I couldn't figure out how to do it from the CD) ARGH! What was I thinking? It took me more than an hour to do three meds and I have about 10 more to go. Now that I've started on this path I have no choice but to continue.