04- Potency, Efficacy and Therapeutic Index Flashcards
pharmacodynamics
the study of how drugs interact in the human body
true or false: all patient reacti the same to medications
false: Patient response to medications are highly individualized
2 types of studies of pharmacodynamics
- quantal effects
2. graded effects
frequency distribution curve
a graphical representation of the number of patients responding to a drug action at different doses (quantal)
dose-response curve
Plot of data showing effects of various doses of a toxic agent on a group of test organisms (graded)
quantal effects use what type of patient questions
yes/no (ex. did drug reduce BP by 20mmhg?)
do frequency distribution curves indicate magnitude/max effect of drug dose?
no.
Median effective dose (ED50)
the dose of a drug that produces a therapeutic response in 50% (refered to as standard dose)
therapeutic index
Ratio of a drug’s LD50 (or TD50) to its ED50
median lethal dose (LD50)
The drug dose that causes death in 50 percent of the experimental animals in which it is tested.
Median toxic dose (TD50)
The drug dose that produces a specific adverse (toxic) response in 50 percent of the patients in whom it is tested.
quantal
saftey of a drug
LD50/ED50 = # client would have to increase dose #’s before seeing specific adverse effect on average
ex. which drug is safer? a drug with a quantal number 4 for increased HR as the adverse effect or a quantal number of 2 with an adverse effect of increased resp.
drug A - up to 3x dose without adverse effect, on average
why is the quantal number so important? which demographic?
elderly patient often forget and double dose. the higher the quantal number, the larger the therapeutic window, the safer the drug :)
therapeutic window
Range based on minimum effective therapeutic [ ] and minimum toxic [ ] for specific toxic effect
high alert medications are:
medications with very low therapeutic windows that effective and toxic dose ranges overlap
true or false: approx. 40% of patients need higher drug doses to reach desired effects
false: 25%
dose-response curve
Demonstrates magnitude of biological response to a drug
Obtained by observing and measuring patient responses at different doses of drug
dose response curves are used to determine:
therapeutic range
efficacy
potency
3 phases of dose response curve
- few cells affected (not enough, little effect)
- linear relationship between amount administered and degree of response
- plateau - increasing dose has no effect (possible adverse)
potency
Compares doses of 2+ drugs w respect to how much drug is needed to produce a specific response
usually based on median effective dose or concentration (ED50)
efficacy
ability of drug to help client (exert more of a therapeutic response)
what is a more important factor when assessing which drug is “better”: potency or efficacy
efficacy
true or false: highly potent = lower affinity to receptor?
false