Do you have an emergency medical response plan?

EMERGENCY DRUGS

The drugs listed below, may or may not be included in your emergency drug kit. The list represents what may be found in an “optimum emergency drug kit.” Substitution of drugs within the same class is acceptable and may even be preferred if a provider is more familiar with using them. Furthermore, the information below is to be used as instructional and does not guarantee to prevent an unfavorable outcome, result, or death. Practitioners may choose to deviate from the list of medications based upon their clinical experience, training, and factors unique to that individual.
To better assist you in understanding the drugs in the emergency drug kit, we went to Southern Anesthesia & Surgical and used their Medical Alert Rescue Kit (MARK) Series of emergency drug kits. They have developed a drug kit for every type of practitioner. We will first define the drugs contained within the MARK Classic Emergency Drug Kit. We have listed the generic name followed by trade name in ( ) and the action along with brief description of that drug: (a) indicates in kit.

aAlbuterol (Proventil)—Bron­chodilator: Stimulates beta-2 adrenergic receptors causing bronchodilation.
aAspirin—Antplatelet: Inhibits prostaglandin synthesis and inhibits platelet aggregation irreversibly.
aAtropine (Atropine)—Anti­cholin­ergic: Antagonizes acetylcholine at the muscarinic receptors, increasing the heart rate as well as having an antisialagogue effect.
aDiphenhydramine (Benadryl)—Antihistamine: Antagonizes histamine at the H-1 receptor, causes sedation, and has an anticholinergic effect.
aEpinephrine (Adrenaline)—Car­diac stimulant/anaphylaxis: Activates alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors increasing heart rate, myocardial contractility, bronchial dilation, and de­creases peripheral vascular resistance.
aGlucose Tabs or Insta-Glucose —Antihypoglycemic: Increases glucose level for treatment of hypoglycemia.
aNitroglycerin (Nitrostat)—Anti­anginal: Stimulates cGMP production which relaxes vascular smooth muscle specifically in the coronary arteries.