ACE Inhibitors: Patient Selection, Initiation, Titration

Prescribing an ACE inhibitor is a sequence of decisions: whether this patient should receive one, which agent, at what starting dose, monitored how often, and what to do when creatinine or potassium moves. This lesson covers that sequence, including the adverse-effect management that preserves a therapy with outcome benefit rather than abandoning it. By the end you should be able to: - Determine whether an ACE inhibitor is appropriate for a specific patient and indication. - Exclude absolute contraindications and quantify precautions before initiation. - Select an agent and construct an initiation, titration and monitoring plan individualized to the patient. - Distinguish expected hemodynamic change from clinically important deterioration in creatinine and potassium. - Manage cough, angioedema, hypotension, renal deterioration and interactions without reflexively abandoning a therapy with outcome benefit.