Paramedic Pharmacology Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Why is adenosine typically administered as a rapid intravenous push followed promptly by a flush?
It requires saline to activate its receptor-binding properties.
Its extremely short half-life requires rapid delivery to the central circulation.
The flush prevents adenosine from entering the coronary circulation.
Slow administration would make it excessively protein-bound.
2. A patient in profound shock receives an intramuscular medication. How is poor peripheral perfusion most likely to affect its absorption?
It makes absorption immediate because muscle retains the drug.
It converts the intramuscular dose into an intravenous-equivalent dose.
It can make absorption slower and less predictable.
It prevents the medication from ever reaching systemic circulation.
3. Which receptor effect most directly explains albuterol's intended benefit in bronchospasm?
Alpha-1 stimulation causing peripheral vasoconstriction
Beta-2 stimulation relaxing bronchial smooth muscle
Muscarinic stimulation increasing airway secretions
Opioid-receptor blockade increasing respiratory drive
4. A renally eliminated medication is repeatedly given to a patient with markedly reduced kidney function. What pharmacokinetic problem is most likely?
Faster first-pass metabolism
Reduced receptor affinity after the first dose
Immediate conversion of the drug into an inactive form
Drug accumulation from decreased clearance
5. In anaphylaxis, which alpha-1 effect of epinephrine helps support blood pressure?
Bronchial smooth-muscle relaxation
Inhibition of platelet aggregation
Reduced cardiac conduction through the AV node
Peripheral vasoconstriction
6. Why is recent use of a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor important before administering nitroglycerin?
The combination can produce profound hypotension through amplified vasodilation.
The combination commonly causes acute bronchospasm.
The combination rapidly lowers blood glucose.
The combination can cause severe hypertension through excessive vasoconstriction.
7. A medication level is 100 units and falls by half during each half-life. What level remains after two half-lives?
25 units
50 units
75 units
12.5 units
8. Which medication acts as an opioid-receptor antagonist?
Flumazenil
Atropine
Naloxone
Glucagon
9. Benzodiazepines primarily produce their anticonvulsant and sedative effects by enhancing the action of which inhibitory neurotransmitter system?
Dopamine
Acetylcholine
Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA
Glutamate
10. A medication contains 1 mg in 10 mL. How much volume provides a 0.3 mg dose?
0.3 mL
3 mL
7 mL
30 mL
11. A medication has a delayed onset, and additional doses are administered before earlier doses have reached peak effect. What is the main pharmacological concern?
The first dose will be chemically neutralized by later doses.
The drug will stop binding to its intended receptors.
Each additional dose will be eliminated before taking effect.
Dose stacking may produce an excessive cumulative effect or toxicity.
12. Which statement best defines pharmacodynamics?
It describes what a drug does to the body, including receptor effects and physiological responses.
It describes how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates a drug.
It describes how drug concentrations are converted into administration volumes.
It describes how manufacturers determine a medication's storage requirements.
13. Why can a sublingual medication act faster than the same drug swallowed in a standard tablet?
Sublingual tissue chemically activates every drug before it enters the circulation.
The sublingual route makes the kidneys eliminate the medication more slowly.
Sublingual administration prevents the medication from binding to plasma proteins.
Absorption through oral mucosa can enter systemic circulation without first passing through the gastrointestinal tract and much of the liver's first-pass metabolism.
14. What is aspirin's principal desired pharmacological effect when it is used for suspected acute coronary syndrome?
Reducing platelet aggregation
Dissolving an established coronary clot directly
Increasing myocardial contractility through beta-1 stimulation
Producing immediate coronary vasodilation through nitric oxide release
15. The same medication is stocked in several concentrations. Which action best prevents a concentration-related dosing error?
Use the concentration most commonly stocked without rechecking the label.
Identify the strength by the vial's cap color and draw the usual volume.
Read the concentration, calculate the required volume, and independently verify both before administration.
Assume that equal vial sizes contain equal total doses.
16. After naloxone is given to a patient with suspected opioid-induced respiratory depression, what is the primary therapeutic goal?
Produce complete alertness regardless of withdrawal symptoms
Restore adequate ventilation while continuing airway support and reassessment
Provide prolonged analgesia while the opioid is metabolized
Prevent all recurrent sedation with a single dose