Nursing Administration of Digoxin

In this pharmacology question, we are asked about the appropriate nursing action when an adult patient has a heart rate below sixty beats per minute before they are scheduled to receive digoxin.

Digoxin is a cardiac glycoside. Its primary effects include increasing the force of heart contractions and, critically for this question, slowing down the heart rate and electrical conduction.

Because digoxin slows the heart rate, a standard nursing protocol is to assess the apical pulse for one full minute prior to administration.

For an adult, the threshold is typically sixty beats per minute. If the heart rate is less than sixty, the medication should be withheld because giving it could cause dangerous bradycardia.