Basing it off of CLINICAL experience, these are the top meds I've seen on a typical med/surg floor.
1. Digoxin
2. Lasix
3. Vancomycin (so much c. diff it's not even funny)
4. Lisinopril
5. Phenergan
6. Morphine Sulfate
7. Lortab
8. Benadryl
9. Percocet
10.Lexapro or Zoloft or Paxil, etc (any SSRI antidepressants)
11. Insulins (log, lin, NPH, mix, Lantus)
12. Metformin
13. Propanolol
14. Nitroglycerin
15. Aspirin
16. Acetaminophen
17. basically any NSAIDS
18. K dur
19. Heparin/Lovenox
20. Coumadin
To me, it seems like everyone on a med/surg floor is on antihypertensives, antidiabetic meds, blood thinners, and PAIN MEDS.
Good luck!
Here's a list of medications every nurse should be aware of...
The above list is great ! If you are studying resp. you may want to know about different resp. drugs, i.e. singulair, albuterol, theodur, prednisone....( there are lots more)
For G.I. you may want to know about PPI's.( Proton pump inhibitors), antacids, and there are more....
Protonix, famotidine, Lovenox, insulins, Tylenol, IVPB antibiotics (Zyvox, vanco, etc.), metformin, heparin, antihypertensives, Norco and other pain meds, and anything else they throw at ya!
- Digoxin
- Lipitor
- Lasix
- Prendisalone
- Ventolin
- Aspirin
- Heparin
- Endone
- Morphine
- Anganine
- Ativan/Valium
- SSRI anti-depressants
- Panadol
...Maybe try by categories:
- Cardiac: beta-blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors
- Respiratory: bronchodialators, corticosteriods, beta-2 agonists
or...
Antibiotics
Pain relief
etc
Drugs that I have seen a lot on a med-surg floor:
- heparin/lovenox
- coumadin
- aspirin
- plavix
- metoprolol
- digoxin
- lasix
- morphine
- phenergan
- zofran
- dulcolax (generally as a PRN order)
- acetaminophen ( generally as a PRN order)
- metformin
- lortab
- lisinopril
- insulins
- SSRI antidepressants
- k-dur
- vancomycin
- zosyn
I saw A LOT of antihypertensives and most patients were on combination therapy with them
NurseOhLa said:1. Digoxin
2. Lasix
3. Vancomycin (so much c. diff it's not even funny)
4. Lisinopril
5. Phenergan
6. Morphine Sulfate
7. Lortab
8. Benadryl
9. Percocet
10.Lexapro or Zoloft or Paxil, etc (any SSRI antidepressants)
11. Insulins (log, lin, NPH, mix, Lantus)
12. Metformin
13. Propanolol
14. Nitroglycerin
15. Aspirin
16. Acetamenophen
17. basically any NSAIDS
18. K dur
19. Heparin/Lovenox
20. Coumadin
I can't really argue with any of these but I'd probably dump the generic #17 and replace it with diltiazem which I gave out over and over and over and over.
dannibee said:Protonix
Funny, I forgot about that. We gave it everybody. Literally. Everybody.
Don't forget the flomax for the geriatric men who still wanna be able to pee
To piggback on this question..
What would those top categories be? Cardiac: beta-blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors
- Respiratory: bronchodialators, corticosteriods, beta-2 agonists ????
Also, is it easier to learn by body system?
Ohh... that's a good one. I'm not sure. I guess it depends on the individual:
Maybe it would just be easy to pick the top ten body systems and follow on from there, e.g.
1. Cardio
2. Respiratory
3. Ortho
4. Renal
5. GIT
6. Psych etc...
or maybe by needs e.g.
1. Pain
2. Anxiety
3. Constipation etc...
Easier to learn by body system.
Don't forget all the IV fluids and O2.
SiennaGreen
411 Posts
I am heading into 2nd semester Med-Surg rotations, knowing that our knowledge of meds is going to go through the roof. I have a few weeks to try to get started, and wanted to memorize the top 20, most commonly used in a med-surg environment drugs.
What do you think those meds would be? List them out!
Thanks so much!