pharmocology 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- drug
- any chemical that can affect living processes
- pharmacology
- the study of drugs andt their interactions with living systems
- clinical pharmocology
- the study of drugs in humans, including patients and healthy volunteers
- therapeutics
- aka pharmacotherapeutics, it is the use of drugs to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease or to prevent pregnancy; can also be defined as the medical use of drugs.
- properties of an ideal drug
- an ideal medication exists in theory only, there is no such thing as a perfect drug
- 3 most important properties when considering medications
- A. Effectiveness B. Safety C. Selectivity
- Effectiveness
- must elecit the response for which it is given. this is the most important property. if a drug is not effective, there is no justification for giving it.
- Safety
- A safe drug is one that cannot produce harmful effects... even if administeredin very high doses for a very long time. therefore, there is no such thing as a safe drug.
- Selectivity*
- a selective drug is one that elicits only the response for which it is given, as well a selective drug would not produce side effects. there is no such thing as a selective drug: ALL medications cause sige effects. A common example would be drowsiness from an antihistamine.
- 3 most important porperties when considering medications
- A. Effectiveness B. Safety C. Selectivity