NCLEX Question & Answer ECG & Cardiac Pharmacology Review Quiz

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]a patient who is currently taking spironolactone and you notice the following ECG changes on the patient's ECG. Tall peak T waves, a wide QRS complex, and ST segment depression. The patient's morning lab results are back. So, based on these ECG findings, the nurse makes it priority to check what lab result? Is it A, chloride, B, potassium, C, phosphate, or D, sodium? The answer to this question is B, potassium. Spironolactone is a diuretic, so it helps remove extra fluid from the body. Now, one thing you want to remember about this medication is it spares potassium. And how I remember it, maybe it'll help you, so I see that SP in the medication name, makes me think of sparing, and I know it spares potassium. So, this could potentially lead to hyperkalemia. Now, if this happens in severe cases, it can impair the heart's electrical activity, which can lead to those hyper, hence exaggerated, findings on that patient's ECG, where you can see those tall peak T waves, you can see the widen of the QRS complex along with ST depression. So, the nurse will want to make it priority to check out that potassium level.