Vocab Challenge - Ch 2 Flashcards
Acute Therapy
Involves more intensive drug treatment and is implemented with the acutely ill
Often needed to sustain life or treat disease
Ex: meds to maintain BP, use of volume expanders for a patient who is in shock, etc
Maintenance Therapy
Does not eradicate preexisting problems the patient may have but prevents progression of a disease or condition
Used for treatment of chronic illness
Ex: a patient with hypertension and the therapy will maintain the patients BP within given limits
Supplemental Therapy
Supplies the body with a substance needed to maintain normal function
The substance may be needed because it cannot be made by the body or because it is produced in insufficient quantity
Examples: insulin to diabetic patients and iron to anemic patients
Palliative Therapy
Provides patients with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness with the goal to improve quality of life for both the patient and family and make the patient as comfortable as possible
Typically used in the end stages of an illness with attempts at curative therapy have failed but can also be used along with curative treatment
Examples: pain meds used at end stages of cancer
Supportive Therapy
Maintains the integrity of body functions while the patient is recovering from illness or trauma
Examples: Administration of fluids or electrolytes, volume expanders, blood products
Prophylactic Therapy
Drug therapy provided to prevent illness or other undesirable outcomes during planned events
Examples: preoperative antibiotic therapy for surgical procedures, disease specific vaccines
Empiric Therapy
Based on clinical probabilities and involves drug administration when a certain pathologic condition has a high likelihood of occurrence based on the patients initial presenting symptoms
Example: The use of antibiotics before the results of the culture and sensitivity reports are available
Monitoring
The evaluation of how effective a therapy was/the clinical response of the patient to the treatment.
Includes knowing the drugs intended therapeutic actions and its unintended possible adverse effects
Examples: monitoring BP following a BP med being given, completing a pain assessment after giving pain meds, etc
Toxic Effects
An adverse effect of a drug produced by an exaggeration of the effect that produces the therapeutic response
Examples: a drug accumulating when it is absorbed more quickly than it is eliminated or when it is administered before the previous dose has been metabolized or cleared from the body
Drug Concentration
The specific amount (concentration) of a drug in the blood
Can be a tool to evaluate the clinical response to drug therapy
Toxic drug levels are seen when the body’s normal mechanisms for metabolizing and excreting drugs are compromised (e.g. – someone with impaired liver and kidney functions)
Physical Dependence
Physiologic need for a drug to avoid physical withdrawal symptoms
Example: tachycardia in an opioid-addicted patient
Psychological Dependence
Also known as addiction and is the obsessive desire for the euphoric effects of a drug
Pharmacologic Reaction
An extension of the drugs normal effects in the body
Example: a drug that is used to lower BP in a patient causes a pharmacologic ADR when it lowers the BP to the point the patient becomes unconscious
Teratogenic
Structural defects of a fetus
Mutagenic Effects
Permanent changes in the genetic composition of a living organism and consist of alterations in chromosome structure, the number of chromosomes, or the genetic code of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule
