Macrolides are a class of antibiotics that are recognizable by their suffix, thromycin. In this visual mnemonic, I will teach you an easy way to remember the drug names, uses, and side effects of macrolides. Ready?
Let's go! Today we are at this little guy's birthday party, where we are celebrating with his favorite food, macaroni. Macaroni is quite often a favorite of kids this age, so it's not a surprise that this boy has scarfed down several bowls already. Macaroni is our symbol for the drug class macrolides.
Get it? Macaroni for macrolides. Let's start by talking about how to recognize which drugs fall into the macrolides category. A birthday party wouldn't be complete without people throwing confetti. Let's just hope it doesn't land in the macaroni.
You can use these people throwing confetti and to help you remember that macrolides have the ending thromycin. We've even put a little bag of confetti with the label throw here to drive in this naming, throw, for a thromycin ending. There is a lot of other antibiotics that end in mycin, so be sure to look out for the throw in thromycin and you'll be easily able to recognize the macrolides.
Some common macrolides you may come across on test day include erythromycin, azithromycin, and clarithromycin. Did you notice the throw in all of these names? Great. With the naming out of the way, let's talk about what macrolides are used for in the clinical setting.
Take a look at that bottle of germ-killing antimicrobial hand sanitizer sitting on the table. It's important to sanitize your hands before eating, since you want to get rid of any bacteria on your hands, right? Especially at a birthday party like this with lots of germy kids running around. You know, antimicrobial hand sanitizer reminds me a lot of antibiotics, because both are designed to kill bacteria. This is to help you remember that macrolides are antibiotic drugs.
Clinically, macrolides are prescribed for a wide variety of bacterial infections. Respiratory infections, skin infections, ear infections, you name it. You'll see that the macrolide drugs are especially used in patients who are allergic to penicillins.
Just remember this hand sanitizer to remember that macrolides kill bacteria and you'll be good to go on test day. Let's wrap this video up by talking about a few potential adverse effects you might see on the NCLEX. This kid's mom has gone all out with the decorations for his birthday. In addition to throwing confetti, she has hung twisted streamers all around the room, making it look extra festive in here. The shape of the twisted streamers looks familiar.
Oh yeah! This twisted streamer looks similar to a cardiac rhythm called torsade de pointe. Torsade de pointe is a life-threatening heart rhythm that has a very distinct look, similar to these twisted streamers on the EKG or rhythm strip. Now, what causes torsade de pointe in patients?
Well, before turning into torsade de pointe, the cardiac rhythm strip indicates a prolonged QT interval. meaning the space from the beginning of the QRS complex to the end of the T wave. Macrolides carry a risk of causing QT interval prolongation, which is dangerous because it increases the chances of developing into the life-threatening torsade de pointe. Just remember these twisted streamers to help you remember to keep an eye out on the patient's cardiac rhythm. The birthday boy needs to ease off the macaroni.
He's eaten so much that he has made himself sick. Just like eating too much macaroni can make you sick, macrolides can also cause GI distress, especially if taken orally. This may present as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
If your patient is experiencing GI distress, have them try taking the macrolide with food or a full glass of water. However, I do think it's worth mentioning that patients should stay away from antacids. In general, antacids are bad to take with other oral medications because they can mess up the GI absorption of these drugs.
Just the clinical pearl to help you get all those questions right on the NCLEX. Let's move on. Luckily for us, the boy has managed to open the window in time to throw up outside.
To open the window, he has pulled on that lever there. Here at Pixerize, we use a lever to symbolize liver damage or hepatotoxicity. Because lever and liver sound so much alike, right? Plus, the handle on this lever even looks like a liver. It's the liver lever.
Macrolides are hepatotoxic, meaning that they can cause liver damage. As the nurse, you will want to closely monitor the liver enzymes like AST and ALT, especially if the patient is taking other hepatotoxic medications like acetaminophen. You can also monitor for signs of liver damage like right upper quadrant abdominal pain, jaundice, weakness, and fatigue. Okay, you've made it to the end of our macrolides mnemonic.
Let's do a quick review to make sure nothing got missed. Macrolides are drugs recognizable by their common ending. of thromycin, including erythromycin, azithromycin, and clarithromycin.
These drugs are all antibiotics, which can be used clinically to treat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections. Importantly, macrolides have the potential to cause QT prolongation, which could lead to the potentially fatal torsade de pointe, so keep an eye on the patient's cardiac rhythm. Another side effect of taking macrolides is GI distress.
which can be alleviated by taking the drug with food and a full glass of water. Lastly, macrolides are hepatotoxic, meaning that they can cause liver damage. Closely monitor the patient's liver enzymes while they are taking the drug.
Alright, that's it for macrolides. I'ma grab myself a bowl of that macaroni since it looks like this kid is gonna be done for the day. I'll see you in the next one.
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