Week 1 Pharmacology Flashcards
What are the three main name types for a medication?
Chemical
Generic
Trade/proprietry
What are some of the major uses of medications?
Management of symptoms eg, heartburn. Preventative meds, eg. seizure medication. Diagnostic, eg. Dye to see blood flow. Curative, eg. fixes a problem Health Maintenance. Eg, vitamins. Contraception.
What are the three properties of an ideal drug?
Effectiveness: Elicits the response intended
Safety: Does not produce harmful effects. There is no such thing as a safe drug.
Specificity: There should be no other side effects. There is no such thing as a selective drug.
What is an example of an ideal drug?
Trick question, there is no such drug that currently exists
What are some modes of delivery for medications?
Tablets Capsules Lonzenges Sprays Topical Patches Implants Parenteral products Suppositories
What is a parenteral product?
Intramuscular injections or IV’s. Administered anywhere other than the mouth an alimentary canal.
What is the definition of pharmacokinetics?
The study of the process in which medication changes in the body including the absorption, distribution, biotransformation & excretion.
What are the 4 elements of the pharmacokinetic process?
Absorption
Distribution
Biotransformation (metabolism)
Excretion
What is absorption in pharmacokinetics?
How the drug gets into the bloodstream. Movement from site of administration to the bloodstream.
A drug is absorbed the fastest when administered by which route?
IV
What is the name for the absorption rate and effectiveness of a drug?
Bioavailability
What is the definition of distribution?
How the drug goes from circulation to the target tissue.
What are some things that effect distribution?
Blood flow
Ability of the drug to exit the blood flow
Whether it is bound to a protein
What is the definition of biotransformation?
The changes the drug undergoes when circulating through organs such as the liver and kidneys.
Where is a drug usually metabolised?
Liver
What is the name of the cell in the liver that metabolises drugs?
Hepatocytes
What is the first pass effect?
Drugs taken orally, before they go into full systemic circulation and pass through the body, the first place it goes to is the portal circulation ie, blood supply to the liver. Enters the liver before it goes into circulation. The liver then breaks down a certain amount of the drug, for example. 100mg of a drug is taken, the liver breaks down 50mg and 50mg goes into the systemic circulation. The concentration of the drug is diluted by the metabolites in the liver. Nurses dose appropriate to knowing this. Some drugs are ineffective orally as the liver metabolises it all.
What are some things that can effect metabolism?
Liver disease
Multiple drugs
Drug tolerance
What is excretion of a drug?
How it exits the body
What are some examples of excretion routes?
Predominantly through renal excretion (urine) Exhalation Salivary Stool Bile Sweat
What is half life?
The amount of time it takes for the concentration of a drug to be reduced by half in the body.
What are some things that effect half life?
Relies on metabolism and excretion. Depends on gender, weight, renal function, age.
What are the 6 rights of medication?
Person Drug Time Dosage Route Documentation. Max dose within 24 hours, correct, etc. med charts need to be filled out fully. Consent
What are some nursing considerations we should take before administering a medication?
Rights, interactions/reactions, culture, history, mode of admin, alternatives, patient preference
