NCLEX-RN Diuretic Classes Cheat Sheet (Free Printable)

If you are preparing for the NCLEX-RN, diuretics are the kind of pharmacology the exam keeps testing, because questions about these drugs turn on exactly the decisions this cheat sheet puts in front of you: when to give a dose, when to hold it, and which signs point to an emergency rather than a routine side effect. The sheet lays out the diuretic classes in two color-coded lanes: loop diuretics with furosemide, the water tablets that make patients pee more to clear excess fluid, and potassium-sparing diuretics with spironolactone, which raises potassium and calls for watching for hyperkalaemia signs.

Each lane covers the ground you will be tested on: indications such as oedema in heart failure, timing and how to take the drug, what to do about a missed dose, the danger signs - dehydration with furosemide, hyperkalaemia and jaundice with spironolactone - when a dose should be held, and what long-term monitoring involves. One honest note: the thiazide lane is blank because its source page returned no content. Use the sheet as a quick drill: scan a lane, recite the flagged danger signs, then close it and test yourself.

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NCBI sources were recaptcha-blocked and the thiazide page returned no content: no onset/peak, hypokalemia or thiazide data - follow your facility protocol.

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