Amphotericin B is an antifungal that is used to treat systemic fungal infections, although it is typically reserved only for the most severe fungal infections due to its many adverse effects. In this video, I'll teach you a mnemonic that will help you remember everything you need to know about Amphotericin B for test day. Let's get started. For today's mnemonic, we're in this young man's apartment kitchen. where he's cooking a gourmet dinner to impress his date.
Seems like this guy's going extra adventurous since frog legs are on the menu tonight. The man accidentally left the lid off the frog cage, and now the frogs are jumping everywhere. These frogs, or amphibians, I guess we should say, are here to remind you of the drug amphotericin B.
Amphibian for amphotericin. Get it? Let's start by talking about when Amphotericin B is used in the clinical setting. The man had all the ingredients out on the counter, ready for a delicious meal. But the amphibious frog has knocked the plate of mushrooms to the floor.
Mushrooms are a type of fungus. So this plate of falling mushrooms can help you remember antifungal drugs. Get it? Since the fungi here are definitely getting ruined.
Amphotericin B is an antifungal drug. used to treat severe systemic fungal infections. It is usually used as a last resort option because it has some severe adverse effects. Let's talk about these side effects next.
First, the frog knocked over the mushrooms, and now they're spilling the kidney beans. This dinner date is not going well at all. These kidney beans are here to symbolize, well, the kidney. And the way they are falling to the ground symbolizes a falling kidney function, also known as nephrotoxicity. Amphotericin B can be toxic to the kidneys.
So, as the nurse, you will want to closely monitor the patient's BUN, creatinine, and urine output levels. The surprise of the escaping frogs has caused the man to take a step back, where he slipped on a banana peel on the floor. The man made a banana cream pie for dessert and must have dropped the banana peel earlier. Can this date get any worse? Here at Pixerize, we use bananas to symbolize potassium.
Because bananas have a lot of potassium, right? Except, notice that this is an empty banana peel, and it's low to the floor, to help you remember that we're talking about low potassium, also called hypokalemia. Got that?
A low, empty banana peel for hypokalemia. Amphotericin B can cause low potassium levels, so it's common that patients will need potassium supplementation. Slipping on the banana peel has caused the man to fall backwards into the fridge.
Like most fridges, this one is covered in magnets, and the bump is making the magnets fall to the floor. These magnets are here to symbolize magnesium, magnet for magnesium. And since the magnets are falling, you can remember that amphotericin B causes low magnesium, or hypomagnesemia. Like I mentioned above with potassium, patients taking amphotericin B are at risk of hypomagnesemia and might also need magnesium supplementation.
And just when we thought this night couldn't get any worse, the man's date, that is, if she is still his date after all this, has had a bad reaction to the frog legs. Food poisoning? Who knows, but she doesn't feel good and is shaking all over.
The date's bad reaction to the amphibian can help you remember that patients often have a bad acute reaction to amphotericin B infusions. This reaction is expected, but it is not pleasant for the patient. They will often have a fever, chills, nausea, and hypotension.
To counteract these unpleasant symptoms, the provider will often prescribe other medications to be given before the amphotericin infusion, such as antipyretics like Tylenol to prevent the fever, anti-emetics to stop the nausea, that sort of thing. If the patient experiences these infusion-related symptoms, know that these symptoms are expected. and are not a reason to stop the infusion or notify the provider.
This is an expected outcome. Alright, that's everything for Amphotericin B. Let's summarize what we've learned here. Amphotericin B is an antifungal medication usually reserved for use as a last resort for extremely severe or systemic fungal infections due to its many side effects.
These side effects include nephrotoxicity, so closely monitor the patient's BUN creatinine. and urine output levels. Amphotericin B may also lower the patient's potassium and magnesium levels, so supplementation of these electrolytes and frequent monitoring may be required.
Amphotericin B also causes an infusion-related reaction that includes hypotension, fever, chills, and nausea. Other medications may be prescribed to mitigate these side effects, but the infusion should not be stopped when this reaction occurs, as this is an expected reaction to an extremely strong medication. And we're finally done. I think I'm going to recommend this guy here a few less risky recipes for his next dinner date. I'll see you in the next one.
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