MED cheat sheet for clinicals!

[mcknis]

To all of you wonderful students and nurses out there, thanks for all of the help you give to us other students. But, I come to you once again for some much needed advice.

Night before clinical we have to come in and get all of our clinical prep done. Chart work is fine with me, but med stuff if total hell. I have tried to find ways of making meds memorization easier, but when you have to look up the five rights on each drug, tell how it effects that pt, and do this for 30 different meds, it makes for a long night with little to no sleepwhen its all said and done. I want to be able to tell my pt everything about the drugs they are taking, but now can't seem to get everything together. Have any of you found any cheater methods for med help? I am really needing some help if any of you have any answers.

Do you keep a cheat sheet of the same meds you look up th night before with you when you pass meds? I am only in first qtr and am trying to find cheater methods already.

ANy other help would be appreciated. Gotta go study for a dosage quiz.

scott

[Megsd, BSN, RN]

My PDA has been a lifesaver this quarter especially for the drug guides. We do prep the night before to look up all meds to give the next day, but sometimes the meds change by the time we get on the floor and there are new meds to look up in a hurry. I have been able to get all the info I needed quickly and at my fingertips.

I had one patient who had an old (pre-hospital) prescription in her purse for some medicine and she asked me if she should go ahead and fill it. I looked up the drug in my PDA and was able to tell her and her son what the drug was and what she should do with it. The patient was thrilled to have the info so quickly.

[Msnurselaura]

I second the PDA Davis Drug guide, I have tabers on there too, Id be lost without it!!!

[casi, ASN, RN]

My school has a helpful med sheet that we have to fill out prior to clinicals. I like it it and if I can figure out how, I will attach it to my post.

Medication Sheet.doc

[amyb2684]

I second the PDA Davis Drug guide, I have tabers on there too, Id be lost without it!!!

I looked into the PDA thing and I couldnt find one that was big enough to hold the info. unless it was the cell phone type. I was told that the blackberry took over and they no longer make reliable PDAs. I really want one that I dont have to pay a monthly bill on (cell phone), since I am a poor nusing student. Are yall using the cell phone type PDAs or if not then what and where and how can I get one??

[mcknis]

I used the palm e2 and it did me well. Had several big programs on it. I know of others who loved the dell axim and some liked the palm T3 (i believe those are the right initials, its the biggest/newest one)

[CRIMSON]

Palm t/x, so far so good.

[amyb2684]

I used the palm e2 and it did me well. Had several big programs on it. I know of others who loved the dell axim and some liked the palm T3 (i believe those are the right initials, its the biggest/newest one)

How do you get the davis and/or tabers on it?? Do you have to have memory cards?? I really want one now!!

[Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN]

You're lucky you get your pt the day before. We did not know what our pt was going to be like until that morning. Then we had to look up all the drugs that morning before we could give them. Finally our last semester instructors (OB/Peds) got smart and gave us a list of drugs the first day of class that we had to make up drug cards for. Any drug that we did not have a card for we still had to look up. You will over time find that you give a lot of the same drugs over and over so you will learn them. Good luck to you all.

This is so true. I have looked up so many meds over and over again.....I have most of them memorized. Med cards are simply a right of passage in nursing school and should be. Medication errors are more common than they should be, so the right med, right dose, right route, right time, and right documentation, right patient, checking the patient identification, checking the MAR, and everything that goes with it MUST be done for safe practice. After all, we will have patients' lives in our hands. Please don't try to cut corners so soon in your academic career.

[Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN]

I apologize. I did not see the date on the original post and how old the post was.

[GretaRN]

We used med cards also, it helps and it will sink in after giving the med over and over. Carry them in your pocket, it can't be expected that you memorize everything the night before clinical. I just finished up my program yesterday and am amazed at how much I know about my meds from giving them over and over. Good Luck