studying meds

[swan36]

What is the best way to study meds to remember them? What worked for you? I'm looking through the drug handbook now (I'm getting ready to take a refresher course in Jan) and it's just mind boggling. I don't know what to concentrate on or how to go about it. It's been so many years since I've been in school.

Thanks,

Wendy

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

I know what exactly you mean regarding memorizing of meds. It can be a real struggle. However if you can separate meds by category (e.g. betablockers, calcium channel blockers) and sometimes you can recognize them by their endings, (ie meds ending in...OLOL are usually beta blockers). If you have access to a patient's chart you can reason with yourself why the patient would be on this or that drug which can prove to be helpful. You can study a few a day and quiz yourself over the untoward reactions, the purpose, the category, the nurse teaching recommended for each drug, the onset, peak and duration of each drug. Overall one never really gets a complete grasp of medications and we all must look one or two up everyday. One who says understanding medications is effortless and easy is a liar in my opinion.

[TazziRN, RN]

repitition will be a biggie in helping you learn them. when you give the same ones over and over, the information will stay with you. we were taught to make drug cards and were expected to carry those with us rather than a drug book. the act of writing the information did a lot in learning the stuff too.

[leslie :-D]

the act of writing the information did a lot in learning the stuff too.

agree.

when studying for tests in nsg school, rather than highlight in textbook, i'd write out the pertinent information: then compare it to notes i took in class.

it helped me tremendously in retaining the data.

leslie