NAPLEX (North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination) Practice Exam

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Study for the NAPLEX exam with a comprehensive quiz featuring multiple-choice questions and in-depth explanations. Build your pharmacological knowledge and increase your chances of passing the pharmacist licensure examination!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

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What is the main action of inotropic agents?

Decrease heart rate
Increase contractility of the heart
Dilate arteries
Dilate veins

The correct answer is: Increase contractility of the heart

Inotropic agents work by increasing the contractility of the heart muscle. This means that they help the heart muscle to contract more forcefully, leading to an increase in the strength of each heartbeat. By enhancing contractility, inotropic agents can improve cardiac output and overall heart function. This increased contractility can be beneficial in conditions such as heart failure where the heart's pumping function is weakened. The other options are incorrect because: A. Decreasing heart rate is typically the action of chronotropic agents, not inotropic agents. C. Dilating arteries is typically the action of vasodilators, not inotropic agents. D. Dilating veins is typically the action of venodilators, not inotropic agents.