Philgristim is a drug used to treat Leukopenia, or an abnormally low number of white blood cells that makes patients susceptible to developing infections. In this mnemonic video, I'll teach you a quick and easy way to remember what Philgristim is used for so that you'll be prepared if it shows up on the NCLEX. Here we go! It's a beautiful day at the soccer field and the coach here is making sure everything is ready for today's practice. Notice that this field of grass, or field grass, sounds a lot like the drug filgristim.
Fieldgrass for filgristim? Get it? There's really only one thing you need to know about filgristim for the NCLEX, and that's what it is used for. Let's get to that next.
Good thing the coach came early. The soccer goal needed a new net. The coach is reaching up high over his head to hang the new net.
Here at Pixerize, we use a net as our recurring symbol for neutrophils. since neutrophils are white blood cells that work kind of as nets, engulfing and capturing foreign bacteria and other invaders in our body. What's more, the beginning of neutrophil even sounds like net.
It's the neutrophil net. Or you can think of it as the netrophil, if that helps you. Just like the coach is reaching up high to place the net, filgristim helps the neutrophil count go up or higher.
Filgristim is commonly used in the clinical setting to increase the level of neutrophils, especially in patients with leukopenia or abnormally low levels of white blood cells. Typically, these patients are on chemotherapy, which often causes a lowering of white blood cells as a side effect, thereby making these patients extremely susceptible to life-threatening infections. Some important buzzwords to remember are leukopenia, which means a low white blood cell count, and neutropenia, which means a low neutrophil count.
Just remember that filgristim may be prescribed to treat either of these conditions by raising the neutrophil count, and you'll be good to go on test day. The side effects of filgristim aren't very high yield on the NCLEX, but just so you know, filgristim has been documented to cause joint pain, bone pain, and muscle pain in rare cases. It may also cause a headache and hypertension.
And we're done. Short and sweet. Let's quickly summarize what we've learned. Filgristim is a medication used to treat leukopenia or neutropenia in patients.
It works to increase the number of neutrophils in the body and is most commonly used to combat a lowering of white blood cell counts associated with chemotherapy. It looks like practice is about to start, so we better get out of the way. See you next time! For more videos like this one, subscribe to our channel, and check out our newest lessons.
For more resources on this topic, including fact lists and interactive review images, click the image next to the More Here arrow. I'll see you next time.