This effect or that!!!

Dr. Bryan E. Bledsoe, D.O., one of the foremost authors of EMT Text books stated: “The EMT of today must be knowledgeable in all aspects of prehospital emergency medicine. Nowhere is this more important than when administering medications.”  Every medication that we give to treat a disease exerts a biochemical effect on cells, tissues, or organs.  And we need to understand these effects to help us anticipate not only the local reaction, but the systemic responses from our drug administration.

Another reason to be deliberate at learning the mechanism of action of drugs, and learn to understand them at a cellular level, is to allow us to consider certain medications for “uncommon usages”.  But first, we need to understand that the medications we administer do not confer any new properties on cells or tissues; they only modify or exploit existing conditions.  To understand this fact and to learn the different pharmacodynamics of drugs can help us use certain medications for unusual circumstances.

Take Glucagon as an example. Besides the use of this medication in the hypoglycemia protocol, Glucagon can also be used for symptomatic bradycardia secondary to β-blocker overdose and Ca-channel blocker overdose, Steakhouse syndrome, and refractory anaphylaxis.

How? Well, I'm so glad you asked! The effects of Glucagon causes a “cascade of activations resulting in an increase of cyclic-AMP (cAMP). cAMP is an important intracellular messenger, responsible for carrying the signals of epinephrine and glucagon across the cell membrane. cAMP also regulates the flux of Ca2+ through ion channels independent of β-adrenergic receptors. This quality of Glucagon is what is thought to explain the various changes to the cardiovascular system seen after its administration.”

Want some more details on this, then check out my good buddies blog at “My Variables Only Have 6 Letters” and read his Glucagon 2.0 section.

How about that!!!