Learning medications

al7139, ASN, RN · Nov 15, 2007

For school, learn what you need to know to pass. Also realize that you will never know meds through and through. I look up meds constantly, even ones I am familiar with just to confirm what I know. I work on a cardiac unit, so the most important meds for me are heart related. It depends on where you want to work as a nurse what you know and what you need to look up. Even nurses on my unit who have worked for 20 years still look up meds.

Amy

jmgrn65, RN · Nov 15, 2007

Looking meds is part of nursing. No one can possibly know all the meds.You will learn and know alot as time passing. depending on where you work, you will give a certain group of meds consistently and you'll then learn them.

eternalsunshine · Nov 15, 2007

A little tip I was taught is to purcase a small A-z address type book and list the most common drugs in there with their dosage.

I know it doesn't seem it at the beginning but you will be amazed how quickly you learn the common drugs and their dosage because you are administering them so often!

Hope that helps

pagandeva2000, LPN · Nov 17, 2007

A little tip I was taught is to purcase a small A-z address type book and list the most common drugs in there with their dosage.
I know it doesn't seem it at the beginning but you will be amazed how quickly you learn the common drugs and their dosage because you are administering them so often!
Hope that helps

That is an excellent suggestion. Another one I have is to purchase a PDA when you can afford it. I have the Davis Drug book, Taber's Medical Dictionary, Nursing Interventions and Disease and Diagnostic Procedures added to mine. It is a God-send! Also, what I do is carry my PDA in a fanny pack. Leaving it somewhere means it will be stolen. I keep my PDA, money, wallet and essential things like alcohol wipes in mine. People tease me because they say I look pregnant, but I don't care. I have all that I need in my pack and that is it.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Nov 17, 2007

I will also say that it is hard to know all of the medications. For the boards, you may consider purchasing the Helen Feuer Review CDs for pharmacology. They are about $80, but they are very good and entertaining. After completion of the boards, as most have mentioned, you will be familiar with the ones given most in your area.

I was a real fanatic about learning meds because we had such a poor pharmacology course in my program. I would continue to read my pharmacology textbooks, and believe it or not, a few days ago, I said to myself "I have nothing to prove by memorizing at this moment...I have my PDA, and if I don't know, I will admit it and just look the darned thing up".

stdntograd06, BSN, RN · Nov 19, 2007

woodland21,

I have been an LPN in a LTC facility for 6 months now and give basically the same medications repeatedly throughout the day to 26+ residents. I have my Davis drug guide in my med cart at all times to look up drug info. I was always looking medications up in school d/t the risk of making a med error and I still look up drug info, even if it's something I've given 100 times before b/c all pts have different allergies and dx's, so the contraindications/side effects/lab results are going to be different. You need to know what to look for.

Hope this helps at all. :rolleyes:

ari3sdog · Nov 21, 2007

I'll be graduating in December and I need work on my medications. I just seem to have a hard time remembering medications unless I give them pretty much everyday. Does anyone have any helpful tips on how to learn and remember:) meds?

Well, one advantage about the board exam is that they put the generic and the official name of the drug. If you know "lol"..."prils".."barbi" "thiazides" "vir" "zones" "cin" "choli" "chole"

atenolol = lol

lisinoprils = prils

barbiturates = barbi

fungazones = zones

niacin = cin

cholinergics = choli

choletyramine = chole

Most of the drugs have similar sounds. The way I know about choletyramine is that it's a lipid lowering agent. because of the word "chole" (cholesterol) It gives me a clue already.

I have taken the board. The way I practice it is by analyzing every option. Sometimes, by not reading the question itself, the options are common sense. I remembered one options that I have was " After eating, put the patient flat for 20 minutes". I thought the way I got the questions are weird because without even reading the question, the this option is already wrong. Well, it depends on the question. That's why I read the question very carefully, sometimes the question is asking for the wrong statement. Which I answered that one.

I used kaplan and saunders as my guidance. I used Saunders for building my knowledge and practicing my analyzing skills. I used Kaplan to teach me how to think like N-CLEX. One thing I learn from Kaplan is that when you analyze an option. Always think about safety. Will this promote/prevent or can do harm.

I used Saunders for practicing my drugs knowledge. Basically, you will learn all the most common drugs that they would ask.

I wish for you the best

rogue medic · Nov 21, 2007

Just work trying to know the common drugs for the test and then move on. Looking up drugs is just part of nursing, and the area u work at. Once you get to working you will know the meds that you give up and down after a short time. Its way to hard to try and keep up the the ever changing drug world.

pirituba · Nov 24, 2007

I used Mosby's Pharmacology Memory Notecards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses written by Zerwekh, Claborn, Gaglione, and Miller. It really helped me a lot! good luck to you!:balloons:

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Nov 25, 2007

I have Davis on my PDA. I find it inadequate for many IV meds, however. Our computer system has a compatibility checker and micromedex. Plus I can always talk to the pharmacist.