Glucagon (GlucaGen) Nursing Considerations

Hey guys, let’s talk about glucagon also known as a GlucaGen. This is an injectable medication, as you can see here in the picture. So the therapeutic class of a drug refers to how the drug works in the body. The pharmacologic class is the chemical effect of the drug. So for gluon its therapeutic class is a hormone while it’s pharmacologic class is pancreatic. So glucagon works by stimulating the production of glucose stores, but it also actually relaxes the GI tract. So glucagon is indicated for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia and is also the antidote for beta blockers and calcium channel blockers. Some of the side effects that we see with glucagon are nausea, vomiting, and tachycardia, and it’s not completely understood why glucagon causes nausea and vomiting, but it is sometimes attributed to the direct glucagon effect on the brain. Others believe that the nausea and vomiting is due to the severe hypoglycemia and maybe not necessarily due to the glucagon itself. 

Let’s take a look at a few nursing considerations for glucagon. Be sure to monitor your patient’s serum glucose levels while on this medication assess for signs of hypoglycemia, as well as your patient’s neuro status glucagon may cause hypotension as well as anaphylaxis. Be sure to teach your patient signs of hypoglycemia. So guys, this is important. Glucagon will actually completely deplete the glycogen stores in the liver. So what does this mean after glucogon is given the patient should also be given a fast and long acting carb if possible, and safe for the patient. So this is typically something like a juice box for the fast acting carb and a sandwich for the long acting carb. What this does is replaces blood glucose levels immediately following administration of glucagon and for a few hours after that’s it for glucagon or GlucaGen now go out and be your best self today. And as always happy nursing.