Week 1 Introduction to Pharmacology Flashcards
Therapeutics is also known as…
pharmacotherapeutics
what is therapeutics
The use of drugs to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease or to prevent pregnancy
3 most important properties of an ideal drug
effectiveness
safety
selectivity
what is the selectivity of a drug mean
Drug elicits only the response for which it is given
also called side effects
adverse effects
the additional properties of an ideal drug
reversible action predictability Ease of administration Freedom from drug interactions Low cost Chemical stability Simple generic name
nurse responsibilities with drugs
Administering drugs
Assessing drug effects
Intervening to make the drug regimen more tolerable
Providing patient teaching about drugs and drug regimens
Monitoring the overall patient care plan to prevent medication errors
Factors That Determine the Intensity of Drug Responses
Administration
Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacodynamics
Sources of individual variation
Four major pharmacokinetic processes
Drug absorption Drug distribution Drug metabolism Drug excretion time course of drug responses
what is troche for?
yeast or fungal infections of the mouth
clinical pharmacology
Study of drugs in humans
what does pharmacokinetics deal with?
absorption
distribution
metabolism
excretion
what does pharmacodynamics deal with?
(impact of drugs in the body)
- Drug-receptor interaction
- Patient’s functional state
- Placebo effects
Orphan drugs
Drugs that have been discovered but would not be profitable for a drug company to develop
what does PRN mean?
“as needed”
2 major areas in which pharmacologic knowledge can be applied?
patient care
patient education
clinical testing phase I
human volunteers
clinical testing Phase II
clinical investigators to try out drug on patients who have the disease that drug is designed to treat
clinical testing Phase III
use of drug in a vast clinical market
clinical testing Phase IV
Postmarketing surveillance
3 ways to cross a cell membrane
Channels and pores
Transport systems
Direct penetration of the membrane
Factors Affecting Drug Absorption
Rate of dissolution Surface area Blood flow Lipid solubility pH partitioning
anything taken orally will go through…
the liver
- first pass
Critical Concentration
The amount of drug that is needed to cause a therapeutic effect
Half-life of a drug
the time it takes for the amount of drug in the body to decrease to one half of the peak level it previously achieved
where does metabolism happen
liver
a receptor
any functional macromolecule in a cell to which a drug binds to produce its effects
Agonists
molecules that activate receptors
Antagonists
prevent receptor activation by endogenous regulatory molecules and drugs
Partial Agonists
These are agonists that have only moderate intrinsic activity
most common drug allergy
penicillin
Idiosyncratic effect
An uncommon drug response resulting from a genetic predisposition
Paradoxical effect
The opposite of the intended drug response
iatrogenic disease
a disease produced by drugs
the 2 liver enzymes
AST
ALT
what is the worst time for a pregnant womam to take a teratogen?
embryonic period: week 3-8
first pass effect
large part of chemicals never reach the body because they go through the liver first
sources of individual variation
Physiologic variables
Genetic variables
Pathologic variables
Drug interactions
a drug that has adverse effects on a fetus
teratogenic
a higher dose than usual used for treatment
loading dose
a dose that is given continuosly
maintenance dose
define metabolism
Defined as the enzymatic alteration of drug structure
metabolism is also known as
biotransformation
generic name of a drug
the original name assigned to the drug at the begining of the evaluation process
What kinds of drugs can cross the placenta easily and enter fetal circulation?
Lipophilic drugs
selective toxicity
the ability of a drug to attack only those systems found in foreign or abnormal cells
much of the bio-transformation that occurs when a drug is taken occurs as a part of
first pass effect through the liver
what determines the half-life of a drug?
a balance of all pharmocokinetic processes
low serum potassium levels
hypokalemia
increased serum potassium levels
hyperkalemia
what agents can lead to hyperkalemia?
antineoplastic agents
what agents commonly cause stomatitis
antineoplastic agents
what is an enzyme inducer
a chemical which increase the activity of that enzyme system
what is an enzyme inhibitor
decreases the activity of the enzyme system
what does the liver use the CYP450 enzyme for?
to alter the drug and start its transformation
meaning of the therapeutic index
measurement of safety of a drug
what does the therapeutic index consider?
the amount of the drug that is effective compared to the amount that causes toxicity
why do nurses write a nursing diagnosis?
to identify actual or potential alternation in patient function
what would a nurse do before starting a laxative regimen
liver function test
abdominal exam
skin color and lesion evaluation
what organ is primarily responsible for drug excretion
kidneys
how does gender impact opioid analgesics?
Certain opioid analgesics are much more effective in women than in men
how does gender impact alcohol metabolism?
Alcohol is metabolized more slowly by women than by men
how does gender impact quinidine?
Quinidine causes greater QT interval prolongation in women than in men
