How do you remember

Whispera, MSN, RN · Sep 17, 2009

You won't remember them for awhile. After working with them awhile, you'll remember them pretty well. You need to have a drug book or electronic drug reference thing handy at all times, and you need to look up those you don't know, each and every time (or ask a helpful nearby person now and then).

You can also make lists of the drugs, by category. For instance, you could list all the antidepression medications and learn them, and all the antipsychotic medications.

After you have mastered them, you can break those categories down into serotonin reuptake inhibitors, norepinephrine inhibitors, dopamine inhibitors, and so on. Then you'll start seeing that the drugs in a category more or less all have the same side effects. It takes awhile and it takes having contact with the information many times to have it become part of your brain.

It's great that you're concerned about this and want to be the best you can be!

AplusNurse · Sep 17, 2009

Thank you so much Whispera

I know it's a way out but, I am going

to try and get one of those pda thingy

at least my christmas....don't have any

real extra money right now...

ok so I will take a deep breath....

i am intrigued really...just fearful too!

hahah.

Have you always worked in psych?

i know i will have training too but you

know first time as a nurse in ANY area

i think you just are uncertain of yourself...

i actually didn't take my Boards until a YEAR

after I graduate....and I was my class speaker hahaha!

I probably was the last one to get my license!!!

but I was so glad I got it on the first go....b/c I my

nerves could not have taken trying to study for that

again.

the downfall is i'm scared I will lose my clinical experiences

and if for some reason I can't hand it further down the road,

i will have to re learn those techniques over again...but hey

that's training is for huh?

I'm just nervous....let me stop babbling....Thanks again!!!!

Whispera, MSN, RN · Sep 17, 2009

There's a free software thing called Epocrates. You can download it online, for a PDA or phone that can use it, at epocrates.com and update it as much as you want. There's a for-sale version that has more features, but the free one has always been good enough for me.

I worked psych full time for 5 years, then part time at another facility for 6 months. I worked with a group of psychiatrists, as CNS for a year. I've also worked hospice and med-surg, and taught psych for 11 years.

You won't forget your skills, they just might go into the background of your mind. But, with the need, and with new experiences, things will come back to you. Be patient with yourself. It's normal to feel unsure of your skills as a newbie. It does get better. It's also good to not get too sure of yourself!

If you want to talk more, since most people wouldn't want to know my history, you can email me: [email protected]

Getit Done · Sep 29, 2009

use an index card for each medication with the information you feel you need on it add details as you go. Punch a hole in the corner of the card and put them on a ring clasp. It will be easy and quick. The more you read the information the more you learn it.

tewdles, RN · Sep 30, 2009

Times change. When I started in nursing I used the index card approach, then moved to a pocket sized book, now I use a pda with Davis Drug software. The important thing to remember is that you do not have to "know" everything about every drug...you just have to "know" how to get your brain around that info quickly.