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well, I couldn't take it any longer.....
the nurse you speak of with great knowledge will potentially harm a patient who is having a true anaphylactic episode if atropine is given as a first line agent.
First off, the rxn causes hypotension not hypertension. If there is an element of hypertension than either (a) wrong diagnosis, (b) patient acute anxiety/agitation is occuring and temporarily increased BP over a brief period of time. Anaphylaxis causes the release of histamine and lowers BP, not raises it (under normal circumstances). All atropine will do is speed up the heart by blocking vagus nerve stimulation which is the overriding output/regulation to the heart.....
so query me this: how does a vagolytic drug treat anaphylaxis??
This is where education comes in.............
Ak 68w, i await your reply
ss
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'Revel in action, translate perceptions into instant judgements, and these into actions that are irrevocable, monumentous and dreadful - all this with lightning speed, in conditions of great stress and in an environment of high tension:what is expected of "us" is the impossible, yet we deliver just that.
(adapted from: Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, surgeon and author: The Wisdom of the Body, 1997 )
Education is the anti-ignorance we all need to better treat our patients. ss, 2008.
The blade is so sharp that the incision is perfect. They don't realize they've been cut until they're out of the fight: A Surgeon Warrior. I use a knife to defend life and to save it. ss (aka traumadoc)
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