NCLEX Review: Pantoprazole (Pantoloc, Protonix) – Mechanism of Action, Uses, Dosing, Side effects, Precautions, and Nursing considerations
Hi everyone this is nurse ryan and today we’re going to be talking about the drug pantoprazole also known by the brand names protonix pantolock and more you can use the timestamps in the video description to jump ahead pantoprazole is often used in the management of stomach acid related problems like heartburn and stomach ulceration and we’ll get into more detail
About its other uses later on pantoprazole belongs to the proton pump inhibitor drug classification or ppis for short and for us to understand what a proton pump inhibitor means we’ll need to take a quick look at our stomach in our stomach we have lots of different types of cells the ones that we’re interested in today are called the parietal cells the parietal
Cells are responsible for secreting acid into the stomach and it’s this acid that helps to break down food for digestion part of how the parietal cells secrete acid is by using something called a proton pump now without getting into too much detail the basics of what we need to know is that the proton pump is crucial in allowing for the secretion of acid from the
Parietal cells into the stomach so again the proton pump is crucial in allowing for the secretion of acid into the stomach and like we mentioned acid in general is a good thing to have in the stomach however some problems can start to occur if this acid content gets too high excess stomach acidity can actually damage the lining of the stomach leading to things like
Inflammation or even ulceration of the stomach or the intestine this is where proton pump inhibitors come in as the name suggests proton pump inhibitors work by inhibiting or blocking the proton pumps in the parietal cells of the stomach essentially reducing the amount of acid in the stomach this reduced stomach acid can help to treat gerd peptic ulcers and more so
What are some of the uses for pantoprazole well like we mentioned pantoprazole can be used to treat various conditions related to excess stomach acid including gastroesophageal reflux disease or gerd and treatment of various gastrointestinal ulcers including h pylori associated ulcers h pylori is a bacterial infection that commonly causes stomach ulcers pantoprazole
Won’t actually treat the infection but rather treat some of the symptoms of the infection such as the ulcers or heartburn simply by reducing stomach acid antibiotics are often administered alongside a proton pump inhibitor to actually treat the h pylori infection pantoprazole can also be used for hyper secretory conditions including zollinger ellison syndrome which
Is a digestive disorder that results in excess gastric acid secretions typical dosing for pantoprazole in adults is as follows for gastrointestinal ulcers and gerd it is often ordered at 20 to 40 milligrams orally once a day for hyper secretory conditions dosing can be much higher initial dosing may start at 40 milligrams two times a day and may be increased to a
Maximum of 240 milligrams per day ppis generally have relatively few side effects the most common include headache abdominal pain nausea flatulence constipation and diarrhea these side effects typically occur less than five percent of the time just some of the less common side effects include upper respiratory infection especially in children and c diff infection
These side effects are thought to be caused by increased bacterial colonization of the stomach as a result of decreased stomach acidity another less common side effect is decreased bone density again thought to be caused by decreased stomach acidity in this case the lower stomach acidity is thought to cause malabsorption of vitamins and minerals which may relate
To the decreased bone density lower bone density increases the risk for fracture and osteoporosis and last but not least hypomagnesemia is also a potential side effect of ppis all that being said keep in mind that most of these side effects are more likely to occur with long-term use of ppis and are not typically common with regular short-term use of course we
Want to exercise caution in anyone who already has conditions like osteoporosis or hypomagnesemia however we also want to exercise caution during pregnancy breastfeeding geriatric use and more as dosing may need to be adjusted it’s very important not to crush or chew proton pump inhibitors as they are often administered as enteric coated capsules which require the
Medication to pass through the stomach and into the intestine where they can then be absorbed if chewed or crushed the medication will be rendered ineffective by the acid in the stomach it’s also important to be aware of some of the potential interactions with ppis ppis may interact with drugs like digoxin warfarin clopidogrel and many more either by increasing or
Decreasing their effectiveness dosing of these drugs may need to be adjusted when taking ppis and that’s about it for the basics of pantoprazol if this video has helped you out please consider leaving a like and subscribe i would really appreciate it if you have any questions or would like me to review a specific drug or topic please let me know in the comments and thanks for watching
Transcribed from video
Pantoprazole (Pantoloc) Nursing Drug Card (Simplified) – Pharmacology By Nurse Ryan
