[Music] scopolamine is an anticholinergic drug primarily used to treat motion sickness in this mnemonic video we'll cover what you need to know about scopolamine so you'll be ready for the nclex ahoy mateys me and my mate have been lost here at sea for quite some time good thing i have my scope with me to survey the horizon for land this scope will serve as your memory anchor for scopolamine a scope for scopolamine it's the scopolamine scope now that you're anchored to the scene let's move on through the mnemonic to learn more about this drug the main reason that we've become so desperate is because we have nothing left to drink see all those empty cola bottles rolling around the bottom of the boat here at pixer eyes we use cola bottles to symbolize the neurotransmitter acetylcholine because choline or acetylcholine kind of sounds like cola right well since these cola bottles are empty and broken you can be sure that here we are talking about anti-cholinergic drugs or drugs that work to decrease acetylcholine signaling scopolamine is an anticholinergic drug and it works to reduce signaling of acetylcholine in the brain you would think a pirate's first mate would be used to the rolling waves but being out at sea for so long has made my first mate get motion sickness look at the way he's vomiting over the edge of the boat scopolamine is used to treat motion sickness formerly called vestibular nausea this includes stuff like being seasick or carsick when given for nausea scopolamine is usually given in the form of a skin patch that is placed right behind the ear the drug in the patch takes about four hours to kick in and the effects last for around 72 hours but there's actually one more clinical use for scopolamine so let's touch on that next i already mentioned how thirsty we are just look at my dry cracked tongue you can see my dry cracked tongue to help you remember that scopolamine reduces oral secretions scopolamine may be prescribed when a patient is undergoing anesthesia or intubation since decreasing oral secretions reduces the risk of aspiration it may also be prescribed to quiet the death rattle a distinct rattling sound made in patients reaching the end of life when they are unable to clear the saliva in their mouth just remember my dry tongue to help you remember that scopolamine reduces oral secretion finally as an anticholinergic drug scopolamine has a slew of side effects that we call anticholinergic side effects or anticholinergic syndrome we actually cover all of these side effects in a dedicated video but to briefly review this includes things like urinary retention constipation pupil dilation and dry mouth the way i like to think about this is basically the blocking of our parasympathetic rest and digest systems by blocking urination gut digestion salivation and pupil constriction we end up with all of the above symptoms alright that's it for this mnemonic let's recap scopolamine is an anticholinergic medication that is used to treat motion sickness and reduce oral secretions as an anticholinergic drug it causes anticholinergic side effects like urinary retention constipation dry mouth and pupillary dilation and now we're actually done with scopolamine aye aye i think i just spotted land i'll see you in the next one thanks for watching 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