Browse the corpus

Doxazosin is a medication used to manage and treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, ureteral stones, and PTSD-associated nightmares. It is a quinazoline derivative that acts as a competitive alpha1-antagonist. This activity describes the indications, action, and contraindications for doxazosin as a valuable agent in treating and managing benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, ureteral stones, and PTSD-associated nightmares. This activity will highlight the mechanism of action, adverse event profile, and other key factors pertinent to healthcare providers. Objectives: Identify the mechanism of action of doxazosin. Describe the potential adverse effects that can accompany therapy with doxazosin. Review disease-related concerns for which a provider must exercise caution when prescribing doxazosin. Summarize some interprofessional team strategies for improving care coordination and communication to advance and improve outcomes using doxazosin. Access free multiple choice questions on this topic.

Reports with overdosage and toxicity with the alpha-1 antagonists, including doxazosin, remain very limited in the literature. There is a report of one case of acute doxazosin overdose in 2005.[14] The study found that the patient presented to the emergency department (ED) with drowsiness, decreased blood pressure, and reflex tachycardia but did not have orthostatic hypotension or any other abnormalities. This patient was able to fully awaken with supportive therapy in 8 hours and was discharged 48 hours after admission to the ED. Although there are limited works of literature for the toxicity of doxazosin, it appears to have low acute toxicity.

Doxazosin may not be a drug that providers find themselves prescribing daily. However, it has a few key contexts where it proves to be a valuable tool for health care workers in the treatment of BPH, hypertension, ureteral stones, and PTSD-associated nightmares. Doxazosin is a medication that requires titration to an effective dose and tolerance. As such, interprofessional healthcare teams need to monitor patients closely upon the initiation and titration of therapy, starting with the prescribing clinician. The extended-release formulation of doxazosin has the benefit of once-daily dosing and more stable serum concentrations. Nurses can serve as the initial point of contact for patient questions and provide initial counseling on using the drug, dosing, and what to watch for regarding possible adverse reactions. This dosing regimen reduces the incidence of orthostatic hypotension and various other adverse effects. Because doxazosin has many drug-drug interactions, it may be helpful for a pharmacist to review the different medications that a patient is on before initiating therapy. These examples of interprofessional teamwork show how such an approach can lead to improved patient outcomes with doxazosin. [Level 5]