Ch 1: Orientation to Pharmacology

Question 1

A drug is defined as… (p. 1)

Answer 1

Any chemical that can affect living processes.

Question 2

What is clinical pharmacology? (p. 1)

Answer 2

The study of drugs in humans.

Question 3

True or false: There’s no such thing as the perfect drug. (p. 1)

Answer 3

True.

Question 4

The 3 most important characteristics that any drug can have are: (p. 1)

Answer 4

Effectiveness
Safety
Selectivity

Question 5

What is the most important property a drug can have? (p. 2)

Answer 5

Effectiveness

Question 6

The Greeks used the term “pharmakon”. This word can be translated as… (p. 2)

Answer 6

either “remedy” or “poison”

Question 7

There is no such thing as a wholly selective drug because… (p. 2)

Answer 7

…all drugs can cause side effects

Question 8

The objective of drug therapy is to provide… (p. 2)

Answer 8

…maximum benefit with minimal harm.

Question 9

The intensity of the response [to a drug] is determined by… (p. 3)

Answer 9

…the concentration of a drug at its sites of action.

Question 10

Pharmacokinetics can be thought of as… (p. 3)

Answer 10

…the impact of the body on the drug.

Question 11

Pharmacodynamics can be thought of as… (p. 3)

Answer 11

…the impact of the drug on the body.

Question 12

Name 4 sources of individual variation which determine the intensity of a drug response. (p. 3)

Answer 12

Physiologic variation
Pathologic variation
Genetic variables
Drug interactions

Question 13

What are the four major pharmacokinetic processes?

Answer 13

absorption
distribution
metabolism
excretion

(p. 3)

Question 14

The initial step leading to a response to a drug is…

Answer 14

….the binding of a drug to its receptor.

p. 3