The expected outcome for a client receiving a medication known to increase preload is an increase in cardiac output (B). Preload is the amount of blood that fills the heart's ventricles during diastole, and increasing preload can improve cardiac output by stretching the heart's muscle fibers, allowing for a stronger contraction during systole. A reduced stroke volume (A) would be unexpected with an increase in preload. Decreased venous return to the heart (C) and increased resistance against the left ventricle (D) would also be unexpected outcomes of a medication that increases preload.
A medication is a drug that is used to identify, treat, or prevent disease. It is also referred to as a medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, or simply a drug.A significant area of medicine is drug therapy, or pharmacotherapy, which depends on the science of pharmacology for ongoing development and on pharmacy for effective management.
There are many different categories for drugs. One of the important divides is by level of control, which separates over-the-counter medicines from prescription medicines (which a chemist can only dispense on the advice of a licenced doctor, physician assistant or registered nurse). Traditional small molecule medications, which are often made through chemical synthesis, and biopharmaceuticals, which include recombinant proteins, vaccines, blood products used for therapeutic purposes (like IVIG), are also important distinctions.