Nursing students and Med Errors

We are taught and tested medications as we go through the program. But with everything else we need to learn sometimes its difficult to remember all of them and be confident in our knowledge.

I have an indexed notebook that I write drugs in to get familiar with and update it when i come across new drugs. I made it when I was a student and it was great for an easy reference, I intend to keep it when I start work

The meds you need to know depend on where you work. I, for example, know next to nothing about cholesterol medications but could tell you the doses (in mg/kg) and therapeutic levels for almost every antiepileptic out there.

You don't need to memorize that stuff. In fact, it would be scarey to rely on memorization when administering drugs.

You will become familiar with the medications you frequently give, but there will always be medications you need to look up. I look up at least one medication every shift that I work- and that's after two years! My first job had a pharmacology icon on the rolling computers we used. The one I'm at now has a mini monograph icon right next to the drug name on the eMAR. If I ever didn't have access to those things, I would bring a book.

I would draw up a grid of them, and try and memorise by going over and over again. I also found out tricks from various lecturers. For example certain drugs have the same ending donating what they do or rather what they are. Also had to learn some brand names, generic names for each drug.

For example if you go here: List of antibiotics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia you will notice "mycin" at the end of a name means a macrolide antibiotic. Or "illin" means a penicillin. This is a great trick.

The more you work with them, the easier it will become. I had a pharmacy course, but it was when I was hands on that I learned the most. Take a drug book with you and look up all meds you don't know. With time, you will remember the tricks to them:)