Cardiac Meds-so confused

[ChocoholicRN]

So I'm already out of nursing school and working full time as a nurse, and I don't know my meds as well as I should!! While I was in school I had a horrible pharmacology teacher who actually got fired the semester after my class had him. My biggest challenge are the cardiac meds. I know basically what they do, which ones are for arrhythmias, HTN, HR, etc. But I am still so confused about beta blockers, calcium channel blockes, ACE inhibitors, basically what the function of each of these types of meds is. I need Laymens terms because I didn't understand it in nursing school and I'm still a bit lost. For whatever reason I just am having trouble fully understand these different categories of meds, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[suanna]

Trust me - you will get there. There are only a very few classifications of cardiac meds. The most commonly ordered ones you will see over and over. Once you get one med in a class down you know most of what you HAVE to know to pass meds. My nursing program offered NO pharm class at all. You picked up the meds

willy-nilly as you learned each system. Even with that deficit I picked up the classifications and effects/counter indications pretty quickly. Try not to panic. 6mos from now you will wonder why you ever worried about these things.

[Katie82, RN]

I need Laymens terms because I didn't understand it in nursing school and I'm still a bit lost. For whatever reason I just am having trouble fully understand these different categories of meds, so any help is greatly appreciated.

You need a roadmap for cardiac meds, and then you won't learn it all. A couple of tips:

• ACE Inhibitors have become the industry standard for HTN meds. They are cardio-protective and renal-protective, a plus for Diabetics. THose who cannot take ACE drugs, are usually put on ARBs, also cardio and renal protective, but without a lot of the SEs that make ACE drugs hard to tolerate.
  
• If a patient has had a MI or suspected MI, docs usually put them on Beta Blockers, because they have shown to prevent a second incident. Beta Blockers are also used for CHF, but only one type of CHF.

See what I mean? Bottom line is that every doc has his favorite meds and they don't always follow the recommendations. I have patients with severe CHF on Calcium Channel Blockers and Diabetics who are on neither ACE/ARBs or Beta Blockers. One thing I am finding to be standard is that my patients gain a lot of weight on these meds, namely belly weight and fluid. A lot of the ACE drugs have diuretics with them. Most of what you see will be ACE/ARB or Beta Blockers for HTN, Beta Blockers for Afib and CHF. But generally it's like cooking - docs will play around until they find a recipe that works. Not all work they same for everyone, trial and error....

[ChocoholicRN]

So I took everyone's advice and ordered a gently used copy of the Complete Idiots Guide to Prescription Drugs! On Amazon.com they let you look at some of the book online so you get an idea of what you're ordering and the book looked great! Thank you everyone for your advice, i'll let you know how it works out for me!

[Roseyposey]

I always remembered them as Aceprils, Betalols, and Very Nice Drugs (Verapamil, Diltiazem, and Nifedipine).

[getoverit, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

another book that I've carried for about 10 years is a Tarascon Pharmacopeia. The pocket version is sufficient, they update it every year. Have different versions for critical care, emergency, gen. pharm, peds, etc. Also they have very subtle, dry humor injected into it...for example, they talk about metabolism and excretion in the liver vs. liver and onions.

Good book, funny guys, I always have it with me. tarascon.com. and I"m not trying to be a salesman for them, but it's definitely worth checking out.