Pharmacology Flashcards
7 cards from real FISDAP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Pharmacology flashcards as text
A patient in hypertensive emergency has a blood pressure of 230/130 mmHg. Which EMS medication is most appropriate for cautious blood pressure reduction?
Answer: Nitroglycerin infusion or labetalol IV
IV nitroglycerin or labetalol allows for titrated, controlled blood pressure reduction in hypertensive emergencies; rapid drops can cause ischemia.
Which class of drugs is ketamine, and what is its primary advantage in prehospital RSI?
Answer: Dissociative anesthetic; maintains airway reflexes and hemodynamic stability
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that preserves protective airway reflexes and maintains or increases blood pressure, making it ideal for hemodynamically unstable patients.
When succinylcholine is used for RSI, which electrolyte abnormality is its use most dangerous in?
Answer: Hyperkalemia
Succinylcholine causes transient potassium efflux; in patients with pre-existing hyperkalemia, this can trigger fatal ventricular dysrhythmias.
A patient on warfarin presents with a major GI bleed. Which reversal agent is most appropriate?
Answer: Vitamin K and/or fresh frozen plasma
Warfarin antagonizes vitamin K-dependent clotting factors; reversal is achieved with vitamin K and/or FFP to restore clotting factor activity rapidly.
Which statement correctly describes the difference between crystalloids and colloids in IV fluid therapy?
Answer: Colloids remain primarily in the intravascular space; crystalloids distribute widely into interstitial fluid
Colloids contain large molecules (albumin, dextran) that cannot easily cross capillary membranes, so they remain in the vascular space longer than crystalloids.
Ipratropium bromide is added to albuterol for severe bronchospasm because it provides bronchodilation through which mechanism?
Answer: Muscarinic (anticholinergic) blockade
Ipratropium blocks muscarinic receptors, preventing acetylcholine-mediated bronchoconstriction through a different pathway than beta-agonists, providing additive bronchodilation.
A patient receives a vasopressor infusion of norepinephrine. Its primary hemodynamic effect is mediated by which receptor?
Answer: Alpha-1 (with some Beta-1)
Norepinephrine acts primarily on alpha-1 receptors causing vasoconstriction, with moderate beta-1 effects increasing contractility, making it ideal for vasodilatory shock.