Meh, recently a korean team was in the news for curing cancer. Reality is of course that they simulated a single protein in a precursor pathway… etc… which could possibly contribute into a future concept for a treatment against certain types of cancer.
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.
It seems OP is aware of this.