I’m a nurse thinking about expanding my job options and knowledge, maybe studying something. I don’t want to work bedside till I’m old enough to cash in my 401k because then I’ll have a broken back and I don’t want to become one of those old angry nurses constantly on edge because she’s angry at life.
To me, the way to achieve this is to learn a lot of things systematically: medicines (not the brand names, but the active components, because doctors where I work use components extensively), diagnoses that are often abbreviated, right anatomical names for bones, muscles and blood vessels…, right ranges for arterial and venous blood gas parameters and clinical chemistry…
It’s tedious and repetitive and I don’t want to take any drugs to study better, but I believe it fits me because I was always an introverted bookworm.
Is there any better way to learn this than the way I just described? It means 3 hours of reading and repeating concepts and ranges after my shift.
When my partner was in med school, the solution was Anki flashcards. Often right before bed or first thing in the morning. It was just so many flashcards, because there are so many medical terms, but it worked!
Knowing medical affixes and suffixes will go a long way. Even medications will have some naming conventions. https://www.mometrix.com/academy/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Drug-Suffixes-Cheat-Sheet-Sorted-by-Drug-Type.pdf
Focusing on anatomy and physiology will help you understand not just what things are, but why they work. Technically you can use a stethoscope on someone’s neck to diagnose the cause of a sudden blind eye, but only if you understand the branches of the coratid artery.
“I don’t want to take any drugs to study better” Why is this even a thought? Why read for 3 hours after your shift? If you want to expand your nursing skills start there. Look into topics that you deal with everyday. Learn more about the commonly prescribed medications. Don’t worry about the more uncommon ones for now. Build on the stuff you already know, that will make learning easier, more interesting and more applicable in practice. Leave the rote memorization to overworked residents.
Look up nursing groups on-line or in your area, see what they have to say. Probly more skilled advice and experience to let you know what to focus on and what not.
I’m lucky enough to work in an academic care setting where initiative is appreciated, but your mileage may vary.
Some affixes and suffixes also say the category of a medication or effect, they are very useful, but they are not based in the brand name, but the drug name.
I like etymology, so when I learned anatomy I looked up the latin (or sometimes greek) origins, and they are usually very descriptive! Acetabulum = small vinegar cup. Processus coracoideus = the pointy thing that looks like a ravens beak. Occiput (via “ob caput”) = the back of the head. Etc.
Have you tried spaced repetition?
Anki is a tool for this specific purpose.
I’m wrapping up schooling for med lab/MLT and I’ve found charts and repetition to be my best friend. If I have a bunch of antibiotics or blood products to remember I group them, come up with memory tricks and acronyms, then lock my self in my office and spend a few hours with coffee and snacks just staring at my notes and burning everything into my memory. I find that 3 is the magic number, meaning I need to go through and fully understand my notes 3 times for the information to stick. The mind palace technique works too. I also like to do a little extra research, I find that fully understanding the mechanism and purpose of why I am even doing something helps but thats just me, I like to start out with the tiny details then zoom out to see how all the puzzle pieces fit together to make the big picture.
At the end of the day just find a technique that works for you, flashcards help, associations, diagrams. Best of luck!
