Orange County Advanced Cardiac Life Support: The role of epinephrine

Epinephrine is a drug that has been artificially made to mimic a body's naturally produced adrenaline. This adrenaline hormone prepares a person's body for perceived dangers by blood flow constriction to certain areas of the body and increasing muscle tissue blood flow. Adrenaline increases heart rate, blood sugar and opens up lung airways.

Adrenaline or epinephrine is referred to as the fight-or-flight hormone and is the classic response to stress.. The body produces adrenaline from the adrenal gland which is part of a person's sympathetic nervous system. Fight-or-flight is automatic and inborn to help our body prepare for threat or harm that causes us to "fight" a given situation by confronting it or "flight," from a stressful attack of some kind.

Epinephrine is used to treat asthma and allergy reactions as well as cardiac arrest so it works in much the same way our body's adrenaline does. However, the difference is our bodies don't produce the amount of adrenaline that is sometimes required in a medical situation. That is why epinephrine is injected in larger doses medically.

Epinephrine is a stimulant and therefore in a medical emergency is administered by professionals with very extensive medical knowledge. These highly trained health care professionals can provide ACLS or advanced cardiac life support. This is the intervention taken when a patient is suffering cardiac arrest or other conditions that is life threatening or when airways become constricted.

Anyone who is certified in ACLS are trained extensively on how to manage patient's airways, decipher ECG's, administer intravenous fluids and give life support. In the event of cardiac arrest the ACLS leader will decide or not on defibrillation. He/she then monitors patient's heart rhythms and checks vital signs and then the next step is the administering of the IV fluids. After all of that, to keep the airways flowing easily, the most common injection given to a patient is epinephrine.

The classification of medication that epinephrine fits into is sympathomimetic agents and works by muscle relaxation of airways while tightening blood vessels. Epinephrine is usually administered by injecting into a patient's thigh so it doesn't directly enter the bloodstream where it could cause complications.

About the Author

Hearts & Hoses is the premier resource for Orange County PALS certification, Orange County PALS re-certification, Orange County PALS Training and Orange County PALS courses. They have over 14 years of experience in Emergency Medical Services, including pre-hospital and emergency room patient care. They offer courses in San Diego PALS Training and San Diego PALS Certification, San Diego PALS Certification and San Diego PALS Courses.