Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) (Nursing)

00:01 Now, one last example is a psych medication.

00:05 So, I want you to be familiar with this type of concept because this gets a little more complicated in your central nervous system.

00:11 We’re going to talk about reuptake inhibitors and a really common group that’s prescribed in the United States are SSRIs.

00:21 Now, that’s Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.

00:25 Now you know why we call them SSRIs, but the generic name is fluoxetine or you may have heard it called Prozac.

00:31 It’s been around for a really long time.

00:34 So, take a look at this drawing: they’ve got the presynaptic nerve ending and the postsynaptic nerve ending.

00:40 Now, all of the little keys in there represent serotonin and serotonin is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good, so if I’m suffering from depression, the more serotonin I can have available to my brain, the better I’m going to feel.

00:56 So, you see that we have some little keys and some little trucks that represents the serotonin.

01:02 Now, some of the keys are tucked into that postsynaptic nerve and that’s when you feel good and they’re being used.

01:09 Presynaptically, you see that we have some smaller keys.

01:12 That’s the serotonin that’s being used and has been reuptook.

01:16 What’s a better way to say that? But, the process is they’ve taken it back up into the nerve ending once it’s been used and it’s done its job.

01:24 So, we have the little trucks that represent the transporters.

01:28 Now, here’s how we work with treating depression with SSRIs.

01:34 The idea is if we block the reuptake of the serotonin, there will be more serotonin available.

01:41 So, you see in the next picture, the drug acts like that giant STOP sign.

01:45 It blocks the reuptake of serotonin— that’s how they get their name— selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

01:53 Through that process, I have more serotonin available and, therefore, I have the ability to try and treat that depression and to feel better.

02:02 And that’s straightforward how the reuptake inhibitors work.

02:06 Now, every person is a little different, and as we just talked about depression, I really want to underscore and to emphasize for you that depression is not a simple treatment plan sometimes and if you have sought a physician or a healthcare provider’s advice or prescriptions, and it’s not working for you, please go see someone else, go for a second opinion, and continue to try some options.

02:29 We’ll talk more about the psych meds, but that’s a very serious challenge— depression— and I want to make sure that we can treat it effectively but sometimes it just takes a while to get to the right appropriate medication, because every person is different.

02:43 We all have variations, we have unpredictable responses, and nurses need to know what the expected pharmacodynamics are and we can help problem solve when something is different in our patients.

02:54 So, what are the things you need to do to be aware of and to kind of problem solve, be proactive about the individual variations and keeping your patients safe? Well, it’s all back to the nursing process.

03:05 You want to make sure that you’re accurately assessing that patient that you’re planning on the next best step, that you’re implementing that plan and evaluating that plan to make sure that the benefits the patient is receiving outweigh any safety concerns that you might have.

03:22 So, thank you for watching this video on pharmacodynamics.

03:25 I know it may have sounded like, “Why in the world will I need to know this?” But, I hope now you have a better understanding of why it’s so important to keep our patients safe through a basic understanding and application of pharmacodynamics.