The student nurse is caring for a client prescribed ropinirole, but the student is unfamiliar with this drug. After checking in a drug guide, the student nurse finds that ropinirole is used to treat which of the following condition(s)?
Explanation
• Ropinirole is a dopamine agonist used to treat Parkinson's disease. It acts by stimulating dopamine receptors in the brain.
• Because it increases dopamine in the brain, an action opposite of antipsychotics, the side effects include psychosis, somnolence, and hallucinations.
• Antipsychotics are used to treat schizophrenia and antagonize dopamine, serotonin, and other receptors in the brain, which allows fewer of these chemicals to bind to the receptors and stimulate the brain.
• N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptors are targeted by medications used to treat Alzheimer's, not dopamine. BPH is treated with medications that antagonize alpha-1a-adrenergic receptors or drugs that inhibit testosterone conversion.