In this video, I’m going to walk you through how to make med cards.
I get so many questions about this from nursing students, asking what to include, how to lay it all out, and how to find all the information to put on it.
So I’m going to answer all that and MORE here in this video.
HERE’S A BREAKDOWN OF WHAT WE’LL TALK ABOUT:
Step #1: Get a drug guide (0:24)
Step #2: Make a template (1:33)
Step #3: Write it all out (2:15)
Tip #1: Always include the drug CLASS and mechanism of action (5:11)
Tip #2: Learn the generic name first (5:39)
Tip #3: Use the same med card template for the drug class (6:18)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
In this video, I’m going to walk you through how to make med cards. I get so many questions about this from nursing students, asking what to include, how to lay it all out, and how to find all the information to put on it. So I’m going to answer all that and MORE here in this video. So hit that subscribe button and click the notification bell and let’s dive in.
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Now the first thing you’ll need when you go to make your med cards is a drug guide.
This one is my favorite, it’s called the Davis Drug Guide and I love how it’s laid out. It has the medication classes all here in the front, and if you remember from this video, you’ll know why you should study those drug classes instead of individual medications. So, hot tip for you there. Be sure to watch that video if you haven’t already. The other cool thing about this is that all the individual medications here in the rest of the book have all the info you need to fill into your med card, and it’s all super organized. So you’ll definitely want to get this drug guide if you haven’t already. It’s just super easy to use.
I get questions a lot about how I tab mine. So really, I just went to office max and picked up these little flag post-it notes, and I wrote the medication name on each of them and put them on the right page. I only did this for the medications that I gave ALL the time at clinical, so that I didn’t have to keep flipping through the book to try and find it. I could just find the tab and it’s right there. So that is a handy tip for you if you want to do that yourself.
Now the next thing you’ll want to do is make a template for your med card.
Use a word document, buy one on Etsy, or use a simple graphic design software like Canva. You really want to have a template saved so that you don’t need to create a new one every time or remember what you need to include. You won’t forget anything, because it’s all there for you, you just need to fill it in.
Canva is actually what I used to make the med cards for our NursingSOS Members. So if you’re a NursingSOS Member, log into your dashboard and click on the How To Study Pharmacology Course. There, you’ll find this printable med card template for you to use as you make them.
Now the next step is to actually write it all out, and make sure you add the right sections to your med card. And here are the main categories you absolutely MUST include:
- The generic name of the drug
- The pharmacological class
- The mechanism of action
- Indications (meaning, what it’s used for)
- Common and life threatening side effects
- Any major contraindications or patients you would NOT want to give the drug to
- What you need to assess for before/during/and after giving it
- What patient education needs to occur.
Those are the main categories you need to include. Now, some other categories that are nice to have, and are necessary for some medications are:
- Directions on how to give the medication, like if you’re giving a blood product (what are the steps you need to take in order to administer it safely). If you’re a NursingSOS Member – make sure to check THIS video out on how to administer blood products.
- If you’re giving insulin, you need to know the onset, peak, and duration of that type of insulin. I actually have a free cheat sheet for you that walks you through those, so make sure to download that. I’ll put the link in the description below this video for you.
- And you can also include the antidote if there’s a common antidote that you need to know about.
So those are the “nice to have” categories but not necessary for all medications. Except, like I said, if you’re giving insulin, you absolutely need to know the onset, peak and duration. And for things like blood products, you definitely need to know the procedure for giving it.
Now I have some BONUS tips for you to help you save time studying pharmacology, but before we dive into those, I want to give a shout out to Beautifullyodd Wiley for our YouTube comment of the week, which says,
“New nursing student here. I’m so excited and I have been watching your video’s for the past month. I start my classes this upcoming Monday and this video was what I needed to hear. Thanks a bunch friend, xoxo.
YAY! I’m so glad our videos have helped you! And good luck in nursing school, you are absolutely going to rock it!
Thank you friend, from the bottom of my heart, for all your nice comments. I feel so blessed that I get to be here with you every week and that you’ve allowed me to come alongside you on your nursing school journey. I want you to know that I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I love showing up for you every week and helping you to the best of my ability. And I feel so blessed that you show up for me as well with all your comments. So thank you!
Now, here are the BONUS tips for how to make studying pharmacology and making med cards way easier:
TIP #1: Always include the drug CLASS and mechanism of action.
If you want to know how to save HOURS studying pharmacology and learning meds, check this video out. I will yell it from the rooftops if I have to: you need to learn the mechanism of the drug class FIRST. This one little tip will save you hours of study time. So if you want a deep dive into that step by step process, check out this video here.
TIP #2 is to learn the GENERIC name of the drug FIRST, and then the trade name second (if at all).
The trade name is basically the brand, whereas the generic name is what it actually is. The NCLEX® and your nursing school exams will always include the generic name, but won’t always list the trade name. So it’s really important that you know what the generic name is, because that’s the one that will be listed on your exams. It won’t help you if you only know the trade names of the drugs, because sometimes they won’t list those on your test. So make sure to learn the generic name.
TIP # 3 is to use the same med card template to write info on the drug CLASS and individual drugs.
Make sure to watch THIS video where I explain the step-by-step process for how to study pharmacology and which med card to create first. You definitely want to do this process with both the drug CLASS, too. And I walk you through why that is so important in that video.
Now in the next video, we’re going to talk about how to meal prep in nursing school! I know a lot of you have been waiting for this video since I posted about it on Instagram. So I’m super stoked to give it to you!
Make sure you’re subscribed and you’ve clicked the notification bell, or you might not get notified when that video comes out. You won’t want to miss it!
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And click on one of these videos here so you can keep rocking nursing school, and go become the nurse that God created only YOU to be. And I’ll catch you in the next video.
