Home › Cheat Sheets › Pharmacological Therapies

Naloxone — NCLEX Cheat Sheet

Opioid OD antidote (Narcan)

🔖 Save

👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team 🕐 Updated 2026-07-11 🏷️ Pharmacological Therapies 🔖 Free to read, print, and share

💡

Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Naloxone on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!

🩺

📌

Use

Key facts

Reverses opioid overdose
Antagonist → blocks receptors

🩺

Signs

What to look for

Target: RR <12, pinpoint pupils
Sedation, unresponsive, ↓BP

✅

Do

Nursing actions

Give IV/IM/intranasal, support airway
Short half-life → repeat doses
Monitor → opioid outlasts naloxone

🚩

Report

Notify / act now

Withdrawal: agitation, ↑HR, vomiting
Re-sedation when drug wears off

✨

Quick Tip

It rapidly reverses opioid-induced respiratory depression, sedation, and pinpoint pupils.

📖 Related Topics

Digoxin Toxicity Heparin Therapy Warfarin Therapy Acetaminophen Poisoning in Children

Was this helpful? ✎ Suggest an edit

Master Naloxone with practice, not just reading

4,700+ NCLEX-style questions with rationales, 51 interactive NGN cases, and an AI tutor — free every day, no card needed.

Practice Pharmacological Therapies questions free →

Related Pharmacological Therapies cheat sheets

Digoxin ToxicityDig level > 2.0 ng/mL Heparin TherapyMonitor aPTT, antidote protamine Warfarin TherapyMonitor INR, antidote vit K Acetaminophen Poisoning in ChildrenAntidote = N-acetylcysteine Serotonin SyndromeToo much serotonin = hyperthermia Neuroleptic Malignant SyndromeAntipsychotic emergency: lead-pipe rigidity Tardive DyskinesiaLate involuntary movements, often irreversible Lithium ToxicityToxic > 1.5 mEq/L