4.6 Muscarinic Receptor Agonists

Pilocarpine is a muscarinic receptor agonist.

Mechanism of Action: Pilocarpine causes the ciliary muscle to contract, allowing for the drainage of aqueous humor from the anterior chamber of the eye and reducing intraocular pressure related to glaucoma.

Indication: Pilocarpine is used to treat glaucoma.

Nursing Considerations: Remove contact lens before administration. Apply light finger pressure on lacrimal sac for 2 minutes after instilling to minimize systemic absorption.

Patient Teaching & Education:  Advise the patient to use caution with night driving.  Additionally, use of this medication can cause hypotension.[1]

Now let’s take a closer look at the medication grid on pilocarpine in Table 4.6.[2]

Table 4.6 Pilocarpine Medication Grid

Class/Subclass
Prototype/Generic
Administration Considerations
Therapeutic Effects
Side/Adverse Effects
Muscarinic Agonist pilocarpine Remove contact lens before administration

Apply light finger pressure on lacrimal sac for 2 minutes after instilling to minimize systemic absorption

 Controls intraocular pressure in glaucoma Caution with night driving

 

  1. uCentral from Unbound Medicine. https://www.unboundmedicine.com/ucentral ↵
  2. This work is a derivative of Daily Med by U.S. National Library of Medicine in the public domain. ↵

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4.6 Muscarinic Receptor Agonists by Nursing Pharmacology by Chippewa Valley Technical College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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