The nurse is caring for a patient who is taking a calcium-channel blocker.
What adverse effects would the nurse caution this patient about?

Choice A rationale

Determining the type of pain is secondary to assessing pain severity.

Choice B rationale

Intravenous opioids are strong and should be considered only after evaluating pain severity.

Choice C rationale

Administering acetaminophen without assessing pain severity first is not appropriate.

Choice D rationale

Asking the patient to rate their pain helps gauge severity, guiding further pain management steps.

Choice A rationale

Cardiac glycosides are not known for increasing heart rate. Instead, they tend to decrease heart rate by enhancing vagal tone and increasing the refractory period of the atrioventricular node, which helps in controlling heart rate, especially in atrial fibrillation.

Choice B rationale

Cardiac glycosides actually increase the force of myocardial contractions. They inhibit the sodium-potassium ATPase pump, which leads to an increase in intracellular sodium and calcium levels in the myocardial cells, thus increasing the force of contraction.

Choice C rationale

Cardiac glycosides do not significantly decrease conduction velocity. They primarily affect the contractility and heart rate but their influence on conduction velocity is relatively mild.

Choice D rationale

Cardiac glycosides improve renal blood flow and increase urine output by increasing the cardiac output and reducing the activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This helps in relieving symptoms of heart failure.