Pharmacology

In patho, coagulation was that one lecture with the giant cascade diagram. Arrows everywhere, factor this, factor that. You took a picture of the slide but as soon as you heard "you don't have to memorize this" you moved on. Then you went to pharm, where aPTT and INR showed up again, but without that foundational patho concept, you skimmed it. So...Why do you care? Why should you care? Well, anticoagulants are high-alert medications, and now, in med surg, you will inevitably

Hi there! Let's talk about Digoxin today. Digoxin is a cardiac glycoside used primarily in the management of heart failure and certain dysrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation. Unlike many other cardiovascular drugs, digoxin does not primarily lower blood pressure. Instead, it improves how effectively the heart pumps (we have a fancy word for this = positive inotrope). The Big Picture In heart failure, the heart’s ability to pump blood forward is impaired. This leads to