● What are the goals of pharmacological therapy?
o How do the steps of the nursing process apply
● Properties of an ideal drug
● What are the steps of safe medication administration?
o Rights of medication admin and therapy
o What does the nurse need to know prior to administration
o What to do if an error occurs
o Essentials of a medication order
o Preventing an error
● Pharmacodynamics: study of the interactions between the chemical
components of living systems and foreign chemicals that enter those systems.
o when new chemicals (drugs) enter the system, they cause changes in the
functioning of our cells and/or organ systems.
▪ EXAMPLE: if we give a drug that antagonizes (interferes with or
suppresses) the cells in our body that secrete stomach acid
● We get relief from stomach acid
● Agonist: Increase or stimulate certain cellular activities
o These drugs bind to specific receptors and cause a cellular process to
become more active
▪ Example: we use stimulant or “agonist” medications to increase
mental alertness in someone with ADHD or difficulty concentrating
● Antagonist: Depress or slow cellular activities
o A chemical binds to a receptor and fully or partially blocks a biological
response or process
▪ Example: We give beta blocker (antagonist) drugs to patients who
have a high heart rate. The beta blocker blocks the receptor to
neurochemicals that increase the heart rate, resulting in a slower
heart rate
● Receptor: Many drugs work at receptor sites (specific areas on cell membranes)
o Receptor sites react to certain chemicals (drugs) to cause an effect within
the cell.
,● Abilities of drugs:
o Agonists
▪ Interaction at a receptor site that cause the same reaction that
would occur naturally
o Competitive antagonists
▪ Drug interaction at receptor site that blocks the interaction that
would occur natrually
o Noncompetitive antagonists
▪ Drug interaction at a receptor site which blocks the action of
another enzyme that would have been created at this site
o Partial agonists
▪ Drug interaction at only certain types of a particular receptor which
cause an increase in favorable effects ad decrease unwanted
effects
● Selective Toxicity: A chemotherapeutic agent that impact only systems found in
foreign cells without impacting healthy human cells
● Therapeutic Window
● Half life: is the time it takes for the amount of drug in the body to decrease to
one-half the peak level. Half-life is affected by absorption, distribution,
metabolism, and excretion.
● Duration
● Onset
● Bioavailability
, ● Implications of renal, hepatic disease
● Concepts of polypharmacy – more drugs🡪more potential risks,
interactions, etc
● Geriatric considerations – what is beers list?
● Pediatric considerations
● blood brain barrier
o contraindicated substances
● Pregnancy/lactation
o placenta and drug therapy labeling
o teratogenicity
● Dietary vs Drugs and FDA
● Pregnancy Categories – X=NO! why don’t we have a lot of category A
drugs??
● Drug schedule categories- what are controlled drugs?
● Accelerated approval process – if all treatments have been exhausted and
new drugs are in the “pipeline”
● RN scope of practice and legal implications – can we prescribe? Dispense?
● What do nurses diagnose?
● You do not need to memorize specific laws
● What does FDA do?
● What does DEA do?
● Toxicity risk
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