What are the top 20 drugs to memorize for Med/Surg?

[NurseOhLa]

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!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Here's a list of medications every nurse should be aware of...

 

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

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....

[dannibee]

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!

[rachelgeorgina]

- 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

[shrimpchips, LPN]

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

[Music in My Heart]

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.

[Music in My Heart]

dannibee said:

Protonix

Funny, I forgot about that. We gave it everybody. Literally. Everybody.

[Joe N635DC]

Don't forget the flomax for the geriatric men who still wanna be able to pee

[MammaNurse2Be]

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?

[rachelgeorgina]

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...

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Easier to learn by body system.

Don't forget all the IV fluids and O2.