Vasodilators: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:01 Okay, so let's look at this in a nutshell.

00:04 Vasodilators dilate blood vessels.

00:07 Some vasodilators primarily work on the arterioles, some primarily work on the veins, and some work on both.

00:14 Now venous dilation decreases the amount of blood that returns to the heart.

00:18 We call that preload.

00:19 How hard the heart works, how much blood the heart pumps, cardiac output, and tissue perfusion. So, venous dilation is a decrease, right, of the amount of blood that goes back to the heart, preload.

00:31 It decreases how hard the heart works, how much blood the heart pumps out, which is cardiac output, and relatively decreases tissue perfusion.

00:41 Venous vasodilators particularly increase the risk of orthostatic hypotension and therefore, a risk for falls.

00:49 So you always want to educate your patients to go from lying to sitting or sitting to standing very slowly.

00:57 Now arterial dilation decreases the workload of the heart because the afterload is decreased, so tissue perfusion is better.

01:06 Remember, that reflex tachycardia is caused by the baroreceptor response and we can treat it with beta blockers.

01:13 Increased sodium and water retention can also be treated with diuretics.

01:17 Patients who are on vasodilators end up with a lower blood pressure over a period of time, which encourages your body, remember, to put out that extra aldosterone, hang on to sodium, hang on to water, increase your volume, and increase your blood pressure.

01:32 That's why we treat that with diuretics.

01:35 Thank you for watching our video today.