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.

  • Fedop@slrpnk.net
    3·
    5 days ago

    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!

  • pmk@lemmy.sdf.org
    3·
    5 days ago

    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.

    • HappinessPill@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      5 days ago

      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.

  • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
    2·
    5 days ago

    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!