Top ten medication you see in clinicals

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Hi gang,

This is my first summer off in ten years. I have been hanging out enjoying my three children for a week now and I am bored silly! After doing pre-reqs for the past year, not having something to study just seems wrong!:rotfl:

I start my nursing clinicals in September and would like to become familiar with some of the common medications seen in the hospital. Any one willing to make a list of the top ten medications you see administered??? Feel free to list more... it's going to be a looooong summer for me!

Thanks!

Michelle

Sort of looks like you are reading Chinese huh? It only gets worse! Ha-ha just kidding, of course it gets better.......after you have been a nurse for 20 years. No, really it does get better once you start to apply the information to real situations. In fact, it gets easier after you become more familiar with certain classifications.

michelle:

i dont have any meds to list for you since i am just starting nursing school this fall too, but i just wanted to say i agree with you about being bored without classes :) i was really excited during last semester that i didnt have to take any classes this summer, and i only work on the weekends. the first week was pretty nice, then i went on vacation the second week, and after that i have been really bored. but, my city is taking a special census, so i got a temporary job doing that till school starts so hopefully i wont be so bored :)

Please tell me after starting clinicals that this will NOT look so foreign and confusing!? :uhoh21:
No worries! Take a deep breath! You will 'get it', slowly but surely!

The best advice is, get a good drug book. I purchased Mosby's 2004 but I found out that it doesn't have clear classifications in it. Many of my friends have the Davis book and that has everything the instructors require clearly described in it.

For our clinicals we need to understand for each med:

Drug Classification/Subclass

Indications (under what circumstances it is given)

Action (how it works)

Side Effects

Drug Interactions

Special Assessments that nurses need to do or know before giving

Things to teach the patient about the med (for example: take with food, reactions that they may have to the med and what to do)

Effects on Labs

We had to write up med cards with all of the above information for each med. Believe me, by the time you are getting through about your 2nd clinical rotation, you will start seeing trends in medications depending on the area you are working in. :)

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