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Study flashcards
Foundational nursing knowledge, drilled the efficient way. Grade each card and a light spaced-repetition schedule brings the ones you find hard back sooner. Decks cover abbreviations, core frameworks, safety principles and assessment basics.
Everyday clinical shorthand you will read on charts and notes.
8 due now / 8 in deck
Flip the card first, then grade how well you knew it. Cards you find hard come back sooner.
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Complete study deck reference
All 21 prompts and answers, grouped by deck for offline revision.
Common abbreviations
Everyday clinical shorthand you will read on charts and notes.
- PRN
- Pro re nata: given "as required", not on a fixed schedule.
- BD (or BID)
- Twice a day.
- TDS (or TID)
- Three times a day.
- QDS (or QID)
- Four times a day.
- NBM / NPO
- Nil by mouth: nothing to eat or drink.
- SOB
- Shortness of breath.
- IM / IV / SC / PO
- Routes: intramuscular / intravenous / subcutaneous / by mouth.
- EWS / NEWS2 / PEWS
- Early warning scores that trigger escalation from combined vital signs.
Core frameworks
The structured tools that organise safe practice.
- What does SBAR stand for?
- Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation: a structured handover and escalation tool.
- What is the ABCDE approach?
- Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure: the systematic order for assessing an acutely unwell patient.
- What is ADPIE?
- Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation: the nursing process cycle.
- Name the core "rights" of medication administration.
- Right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time. Many add right documentation, reason, response and to refuse.
- What does the sepsis "red flag" idea capture?
- A set of high-risk signs prompting urgent senior review and the sepsis pathway. The exact criteria follow your local tool.
Safety principles
Non-negotiable habits that protect patients.
- When are the "5 moments" for hand hygiene?
- Before touching a patient, before a clean/aseptic task, after body-fluid exposure risk, after touching a patient, after touching patient surroundings.
- Why is an independent double check used for high-risk drugs?
- A second competent person independently verifies the calculation and preparation to catch errors before they reach the patient.
- What must you confirm before giving any medicine?
- The patient identity, the prescription, and any allergies, against the medicine and its documentation.
- What underpins any intervention?
- Valid, informed consent from a patient with capacity, or the correct process when capacity is lacking.
Assessment basics
What the routine observations are actually telling you.
- What is the typical resting adult heart rate range?
- Roughly 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest. Trends and the whole picture matter more than a single value; local charts govern.
- Why is respiratory rate called the "first sign"?
- It often changes earliest when a patient deteriorates, yet is the most commonly missed observation. Count it properly.
- What does SpO2 measure, and a key limit?
- Peripheral oxygen saturation. It can read falsely with poor perfusion, cold peripheries, nail polish or movement.
- Why use a pain score?
- It makes a subjective symptom trackable over time and between staff, so treatment can be evaluated.
Sources
- Standards framework for nursing and midwifery education Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2023
- The SuperMemo spaced-repetition method (SM-2) SuperMemo, 2023The scheduling is a light SM-2-style variant.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-17