When I was in nursing school, we were given a long list of cardiac medications and told to put each one on a 3×5 card with its generic name, trade name, classification, adult dose and side effects. That memorization process was how we were supposed to “learn” cardiac medications.
During my long stay in nursing school, I have seen many students struggle with the mathematics of drug calculations. As someone who had previously struggled with the numbers I have been quite successful in explaining this material to students who hate numbers.
I saw the need for Simplified Heart Sounds when I was studying for the CCRN test. Having worked in ICU and studied critical care I was generally familiar with the cardiovascular system. But questions on heart sounds stumped me. I just couldn’t absorb the facts of heart sounds. That dilemma inspired this pamphlet.
Note to self… buy this book, and improve your chart reading skills.
by Malcolm Rosenberg, RN
with the help of:
– I. Wright Badlee, MD
– Hugh Kant Reed, MD
– Ida Cypher Scribbles, RN
$3.95
I have dealt with charts every single working day for the past fifteen years. During that time, it always seemed like there was one nurse who everyone would seek out if they were stuck. Its the nurse who could decipher any scribble, figure out why two different nephrologists were consulted on different days, or find a code status in the middle of the ER progress notes. This pamphlet will not transform you into that nurse, but it will plant the idea that chart reading is a learnable skill, that can be practiced and mastered.
Can you read this?
A very brief and complete explanation of mechanical ventilation. by Malcolm Rosenberg, RN | Illustrations by Scott Brown $7.95 About eight years ago, I worked on a monitored pulmonary floor that had four ventilator beds. My formal training was minimal, so I learned on the job, as best I could. As a beginner, I asked […]
Typically, blood gases are taught by having students memorize relational statements like this one, “If the pH is low and CO2 is high, then the condition is …” This is a quick and easy method which is usually as quickly forgotten as it is learned.
You already have a good idea of the things blood does. You know red blood cells deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. And white blood cells fight infection. To reach all 6 trillion cells, blood vessels have to cover a lot of distance. Our vasculature, the highway of our blood is 60,000 miles long. If […]