| Course | NSG 124 Pharmacology |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Drug classification table |
| Length | About 430 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NSG 124 Unit 8
Loop Diuretics in Five Rows: What the Class Does, What Patients Notice, What Nurses Follow, What Stops a Dose, and What the Record Carries
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NSG 124: Pharmacology
Instructor Name
March 5, 2026
Loop Diuretics in Five Rows: What the Class Does, What Patients Notice, What Nurses Follow, What Stops a Dose, and What the Record Carries
The Class
Loop diuretics. Representative members: furosemide, bumetanide, torsemide, and ethacrynic acid. The table carries no doses or other figures, which are set by each order and each product's label. The rows follow the course pharmacology text (Burchum & Rosenthal, 2022).
The Table
One class, five rows.
| Row | Entry |
|---|---|
| What the class does in the body, in ordinary terms | Blocks the pump in the thick part of the kidney's loop of Henle that pulls sodium, potassium, and chloride back into the blood. Because so much salt is normally reclaimed at that point, blocking it causes a large, fast loss of salt and water in the urine, larger than other diuretic classes produce (Brater, 1998). Given by vein, the effect starts within minutes; by mouth, within about an hour. |
| What a patient is likely to notice | Passing large amounts of urine soon after a dose, often urgently; less swelling in the legs and easier breathing if fluid overload was the problem; thirst; lightheadedness on standing; muscle cramps; and, rarely, ringing in the ears or muffled hearing, especially after a fast intravenous dose. |
| What a nurse follows | Morning weight, taken on one scale before the patient eats, as the most direct measure of fluid removed; intake and output; blood pressure lying and standing; potassium, magnesium, sodium, and creatinine as ordered, since the class causes losses of all three electrolytes and can reduce kidney blood flow if too much fluid is removed; breath sounds and leg swelling; hearing, when doses are given intravenously; and the timing of doses, which are given in the morning or early afternoon where possible to avoid night-time urgency and falls. |
| What would interrupt administration | A systolic pressure below the ordered limit or symptoms of low blood pressure; a potassium below the ordered limit, since low potassium raises the risk of heart rhythm problems, especially with digoxin; a rising creatinine with signs of fluid loss, such as dry mouth, falling weight beyond the target, or reduced urine despite the drug; new ringing in the ears or hearing loss; or a sulfonamide allergy recorded for a member that contains a sulfonamide group, which would be raised with the prescriber, since ethacrynic acid is the member without one. |
| What the record would carry | Weight each morning with the scale used; the dose, route, and time; urine output over the hours after the dose, since that is when the response occurs; standing blood pressure; the latest potassium and magnesium; and any held dose with the reason and who was told. |
What Belongs to the Class, and What to Individual Members
Everything in the table applies to the class as a whole, with three differences between members. First, how reliably they are absorbed by mouth: furosemide's absorption varies widely from person to person and dose to dose, while bumetanide and torsemide are absorbed more predictably, which can matter when a patient with gut swelling from heart failure responds poorly to oral furosemide (Ellison & Felker, 2017). Second, how long the effect lasts: torsemide acts for longer than the others, so the pattern of urine output after a dose differs. Third, the sulfonamide group: furosemide, bumetanide, and torsemide contain it, and ethacrynic acid does not, which is why ethacrynic acid is sometimes chosen for patients with certain sulfonamide allergies, although it carries a greater risk to hearing.
These differences do not change what a nurse follows; they change what the nurse expects to see and when. A nurse who knows the class knows to weigh the patient, check the potassium, and watch the standing blood pressure regardless of which member is ordered. A nurse who knows the members also knows why a switch from one to another might be made, and what might look different afterward.
The Rows Applied to One Patient
To test whether the rows are specific enough, they were applied to the composite 81-year-old man from Unit 4, whose furosemide was increased on admission for heart failure. The class row explains why his legs are less swollen and why his potassium fell. The patient row explains his complaint of rushing to the bathroom after the morning dose. The nurse row explains why his weight, potassium, magnesium, and creatinine were being checked every morning. The interruption row explains why a low potassium and a rising creatinine together, found before his digoxin, were reasons to question the next diuretic dose as well. The record row explains why the hours after each dose matter more than the daily total. Every row produced something about him that would not apply to a patient on a different class of drug, which is the test the table was built to pass.
References
Brater, D. C. (1998). Diuretic therapy. New England Journal of Medicine, 339(6), 387-395. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199808063390607
Burchum, J. R., & Rosenthal, L. D. (2022). Lehne's pharmacology for nursing care (11th ed.). Elsevier.
Ellison, D. H., & Felker, G. M. (2017). Diuretic treatment in heart failure. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(20), 1964-1975. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1703100
NSG 124 Unit 8 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 8 asks you to build a classification table for a drug class. Expect to name the class and members, fill rows for action, patient experience, nursing monitoring, hold criteria and teaching, separate class effects from individual differences and test the rows on a patient. Many versions ask how many rows to include and how to handle differences between members. Check whether your section names the class. Class-level statements should apply to all members; note exceptions separately. Hold criteria should be specific, such as blood pressure or potassium thresholds. Testing on a patient shows whether rows are useful. Cite the course text and one clinical source. A table with too many rows becomes hard to use at the bedside, so five well-chosen rows is often enough.
How this NSG 124 Unit 8 example is built
The table opens with the class and members. Five rows follow, each written at class level. The action row explains where loop diuretics work in the kidney. The patient row names frequent urination and thirst. The monitoring row lists weight, intake and output, electrolytes and blood pressure. The hold row gives thresholds. The teaching row lists timing and signs to report. The individual differences section notes sulfonamide structure and potency. The patient test applies the rows to an 80-year-old with heart failure and finds them specific enough to guide care, which is the evidence that the table works. Each row is short enough to read in a few seconds.
NSG 124 Unit 8 rubric: what full points look like
Herzing's rubric for a classification table typically covers class definition, accuracy of rows, separation of class and member effects, hold criteria, teaching and the patient test. Rows and hold criteria are checked for accuracy first, since a wrong threshold could lead to a harmful dose. Class points reward correct members. Separation criteria look for exceptions noted outside the class rows, such as ethacrynic acid for sulfonamide allergy. Teaching earns credit for plain, specific points such as taking the dose in the morning. The patient test is often credited because it shows the table can guide care. Hearing loss at high intravenous doses is usually expected in the monitoring row. Consistent row wording helps. Felker's DOSE trial supports the monitoring row.
NSG 124 Unit 8 help: mistakes that cost points
Classification tables in Unit 8 commonly lose points by mixing member-specific facts into class rows. Another frequent problem is hold criteria without numbers, such as low blood pressure without a value. Students often skip the patient test. Teaching is generic. Ototoxicity at high doses is forgotten. Potassium monitoring is missing, though low potassium is the class's most common hazard. Daily weight is left out of monitoring. The action row describes the whole kidney rather than the loop of Henle. Dose timing advice, morning rather than evening, is missing. Finally, test the rows on a patient, because graders reward a table that proves it can guide care.
Get a NSG 124 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 8 instructions and the rubric from your NSG 124 classroom, and tell us which class the table has to profile. We write a custom example that fixes the rows before filling them, puts the nursing entries last and longest, tests every line for whether it could belong elsewhere, and separates class-wide claims. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
More NSG 124 papers and BSN samples
- NSG 124 Unit 1: Route and form comparison
- NSG 124 Unit 2: Dose calculation worksheet
- NSG 124 Unit 3: Administration rights walkthrough
- NSG 124 Unit 4: Pre-dose assessment record
- NSG 124 Unit 5: Monitoring and counseling brief
- NSG 124 Unit 6: Adverse effect escalation chart
- NSG 124 Unit 7: High alert medication file
- NSG 633 Unit 8: Frontline improvement pitch
- NSG 660 Unit 8: Scholarly reading portfolio
- NSG 120 Unit 8: Patient teaching rationale
- NSG 121 Unit 8: Assessment competency file
NSG 124 Unit 8 questions, answered
How many drugs from the class should appear?
A few, named as representatives rather than profiled individually. The table is about the class, and a document that turns into four small drug entries has changed genre. Where your instructions ask for a prototype member, give it a row of its own and keep the rest of the table at class level, marking clearly which statements came from the prototype.
What counts as a specific nursing entry?
One that stops making sense if you move it to another class. Watching the patient and teaching them about side effects survives any move and therefore says nothing. An entry naming what would be followed because of what this class does in the body, and what would interrupt giving it, is anchored, and anchoring is where the credit sits.
Can I build the table from a drug guide?
Use one, cite it, and write the rows in your own words. Guides are revised and they differ from each other, so a table quoting one without naming it becomes indefensible the moment your instructor opens a different guide. Check what edition your section names before you start, and note anywhere your guide and your course text describe the class differently.
Where can I find a free NSG 124 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page holds the whole NSG 124 Unit 8 loop diuretic table free, five rows tested on a patient. A table for another class can be prepared on request.
What should nurses monitor with loop diuretics?
Daily weight, intake and output, potassium and other electrolytes, kidney function, blood pressure and hearing at high doses. This sample lists those in its monitoring row and tests them on an older patient with heart failure.