Cardiac Meds-so confused

[RNmom08]

So I'm already out of nursing school and working full time as a nurse, and I don't know my meds as well as I should!! While I was in school I had a horrible pharmacology teacher who actually got fired the semester after my class had him. My biggest challenge are the cardiac meds.

I know basically what they do, which ones are for arrhythmias, HTN, HR, etc. But I am still so confused about beta blockers, calcium channel blockes, ACE inhibitors, basically what the function of each of these types of meds is. I need Laymens terms because I didn't understand it in nursing school and I'm still a bit lost. For whatever reason I just am having trouble fully understand these different categories of meds, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[shecatar]

Beta Blockers

Example:
Atenolol (Tenormin)
Metoprolol tartrate (Lopressor)
Nadolol (Cogard)
Propanolol (Inderal)

Action: Treat Angina by reducing myocardial oxygen demands through slowing of heart rate and decreasing force of contractions.

Calcium Channel Blockers:
Example:
Diltazem (cardizem)
Nifedipine (Procrdia)
Verapamil (Calan/Isoptin)

Action- Treat Angian by reducing myocardial oxygen demands by decreasing force of contractions and decreasing afterload (resistance when ventricles cintract).

Ace Inhibbitors
Examples:
Captoprol (Capoten)
Enalapril (Vasotec)

Action- Reduce blood pressure by blocking conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II, a powerful vasoconstrictor

[RNmom08]

shecatar, you've got the right idea of what i'm asking here. As far as which drugs fall under which category, thats not too bad.

With some review and a cheat sheet i'm okay with categorizing the drugs. What I am unsure about is what exactly an ACE inhibitor does or a calcium channel blocker or beta blocker.

I need to know these in laymens terms, not each specific drug, but the general category of each. shecatar has the right idea, so any further insight on this would be great.

Thanks again for all you suggestions, keep 'em coming!