Common Blood Pressure Medications

As a nurse, you will encounter a lot of blood pressure medications. While it’s nearly impossible to memorize them all, there are some you’ll encounter fairly frequently. Here are a few of the most popular ones:

Class: ACE Inhibitors

Works by: Dilating blood vessels to increase the amount of blood pumped by the heart, while also lowering blood pressure.

Typical suffix: -pril

Common Drugs: Enalapril (Vasotec) Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) Quinapril (Accupril) Benazepril (Lotensin) Class: Beta Blockers

Class: Beta Blockers

Works by: Making the heart beat slower and less forcefully, which in turn lowers blood pressure.

Typical suffix: -olol

Common Drugs: Metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol-XL) Atenolol (Tenormin) Propranolol (Inderal LA, InnoPran XL) Bisoprolol (Zebeta)

Class: Calcium Channel Blockers

Works by: Relaxing and widening the arterial blood vessel walls. Some also slow heart rate.

Typical suffix: -pine

Common Drugs: Nifedipine (Procardia) Nisoldipine (Sular) Amlodipine (Norvasc) Diltiazem (Cardizem, Tiazac)