Essential Drug Classes
HardDrag across each drug name to reveal its mechanism, nursing considerations, and a key exam fact.
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This set covers eight essential drug classes that appear across the NCLEX: a statin, a biguanide, a thyroid hormone, a bronchodilator, a PPI, an opioid, its antidote, and a corticosteroid.
Each drug here stands in for a class the exam tests again and again, so learn three things per drug: what it does, its signature adverse effect, and the assessment you make before giving it. Together they cover pharmacology’s greatest hits — cholesterol, diabetes, thyroid replacement, asthma rescue, acid suppression, pain control and its reversal, and steroids.
Terms in this set
- Atorvastatin An HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) that lowers LDL cholesterol and reduces cardiovascular risk.
- Metformin A biguanide antidiabetic that lowers blood glucose by reducing hepatic glucose production and improving insulin sensitivity.
- Levothyroxine Synthetic thyroid hormone (T4) used to treat hypothyroidism and prevent myxedema coma.
- Albuterol A short-acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) that rapidly relaxes bronchial smooth muscle to relieve acute bronchospasm.
- Omeprazole A proton pump inhibitor (PPI) that irreversibly suppresses gastric acid secretion; used for GERD, peptic ulcers, and H. pylori eradication.
- Morphine An opioid analgesic that binds mu receptors in the CNS to relieve moderate-to-severe pain and reduce preload in acute pulmonary edema.
- Naloxone A competitive opioid receptor antagonist that rapidly reverses opioid-induced respiratory depression and sedation.
- Prednisone A synthetic corticosteroid that suppresses inflammation and immune response; used for autoimmune, allergic, and inflammatory conditions.