Antipsychotic Medications: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:01 So let's wrap this up.

00:02 Antipsychotic medications are used to treat a wide range of psychotic disorders with Schizophrenia being the most common and also the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

00:12 Full effect of antipsychotics can take weeks to months for maximum development.

00:17 You shouldn't use antipsychotics to treat elderly dementia symptoms.

00:21 Remember it can increase the risk of mortality.

00:24 Antipsychotics are contraindicated for patients with Parkinson's disease.

00:28 We talked about that. Remember, antipsychotics block those dopamine receptors and Parkinson's patients already struggle with not enough dopamine in their brains.

00:39 All antipsychotics are relatively equal in their antipsychotic effect but they have different side effects.

00:46 First generation antipsychotics have an increased risk of EPS including tardive dyskinesia’s.

00:52 Second generation have a lower risk of EPS except they have an equal risk of tardive dyskinesia’s with the first generation.

01:00 First generation antipsychotics have a higher risk of neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

01:07 Remember that is potentially life-threatening, patient could die from respiratory failure or cardiovascular collapse and we treat it with Dantrolene or bromocriptine.

01:17 Okay, there's four main types of EPS: dystonia, Parkinsonism, and akathisia.

01:23 Those are the ones that develop early.

01:24 Tardive dyskinesia’s develop later in treatment.

01:28 Acute dystonia can involve severe spasm of the tongue, face, neck, back, or even in oculogyric crisis.

01:36 Acute dystonia and Parkinsonism may respond to anticholinergic medications like Benztropine.

01:42 Akathisia may respond to benzodiazepines or beta blockers.

01:48 Thank you for watching our video today.