Pharmacology
2yr - 1st sem, midterms
Fundamental Concepts of Pharmacology
OBJECTIVES
➢ At the end of the session, the learner will be
able to understand and apply the knowledge of
physical, social, natural, and health sciences, and
humanities in nursing pharmacology.
➢ Apply appropriate nursing concepts and actions
holistically and comprehensively
PHARMACOLOGY IN HISTORY
❑ HIPPOCRATES (440 BC)
▪ The Father of Medicine
▪ Greek physician
▪ “Let food be thy medicine and let thy
medicine be food”
❑ AVICENNA (1025)
▪ Persian physician
▪ Philosophy of Medicine - "Holistic"
❑ CLAUDIUS GALEN (AELIUS GALENUS)
▪ Greek physician
▪ Founder of experimental physiology
▪ originator of the experimental method
in medical investigation
❑ WILLIAM WITHERING
▪ 1785
▪ placed the medical use of digitalis on a
firm scientific foundation
❑ FRIEDRICH SERTURNER
▪ the first to isolate the active ingredient
associated with a medicinal plant
➤ PHARMACOLOGY
▪ Discovery of Morphine (1804)
❑ Advent of Anesthesia
▪ October 16, 1846
William T.G. Morton (dentist)
administered ether to a music
teacher from Boston , for neck
tumor removal.
▪ 1853
Queen Victoria, who accepted
chloroform from her physician,
John Snow, when giving birth
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to her eighth child, Prince
Leopold.
❑ 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
▪ 1st govt attempt to establish consumer
protection
▪ Reference of officially approved drugs:
United States Pharmacopeia/
National Formulary (USP/NF)
❑ 1920s
▪ discovery of Insulin and vitamins
(Frederick Banting and Charles Best)
❑ 1930s Modern anesthetic drugs
▪ Use of Sulfuric/ Diethyl Ether
❑ 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
▪ Established the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)
❑ 1928
▪ Alexander Fleming
↳ 1940s
- Use of Penicillin
❑ 1950s
▪ Robert Wallace Wilkins
▪ Use of antihypertensive drugs
❑ 1960s
▪ Paul Charpentier
▪ Use Neuroleptics
❑ 1970s
▪ H2 Blockers Anti Asthmatics
▪ ex) beclomethasone → Dipropionate
inhaler
❑ 1970s
▪ H2 Blockers Anti Asthmatics
DEFINITION OF TERMS
☞ is the study of medicines. It includes how drugs
are administered and how the body responds.
☞ GREEK words:
1. “pharmakon" - drugs
2. "logos/logia" - knowledge
☞ includes history, source, physical and chemical
properties, compounding, biochemical and
physiological effects, therapeutic and other uses,
precautions, adverse effects, interactions and
contra-indications of drugs.
❑ DRUG
 ▪ These are substances when taken by a
living organism, modify one or more of
their functions.
▪ “Droog” - dry.
▪ "Drogue" - dry herb.
❑ MEDICINE
▪ is a substance administered for
diagnosis, cure, treatment, mitigation
or prevention.
❣ All medicines are drugs but all drugs are not
medicines.
❑ PROTOTYPE DRUG
▪ An individual drug that represents
groups of drugs
▪ Ex.) Penicillin, Morphine
❑ PRESCRIPTION
▪ the written direction for the
preparation and the administration of
the drug.
❑ INDICATIONS
▪ list of conditions for which a drug is
meant to be used.
▪ ex.) insulins are indicated for the
treatment of DM
❑ CONTRAINDICATIONS
▪ conditions for which a drug should not
be given.
▪ ex.) Vit A supplements are C/I for the
first trimester of pregnancy.
❑ CAUTIONS
▪ list of potential risks or dangers when
taking the drug.
▪ ex.) tramadol (pain reliever) has S/E of
drowsiness. CAUTION: do not drive
or manipulate heavy equipment.
❑ DOSE
▪ a quantity of a medicine or drug taken
or recommended to be taken at a
particular time.
❑ THERAPEUTIC EFFECT
▪ primary effect/intended
▪ the reason the drug is prescribed.
▪ ex.) diphenhydramine -
allergy/itchiness
❑ SIDE EFFECT
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▪ secondary effect/unintended are usually
predictable and may be either harmless.
▪ ex.) diphenhydramine - drowsiness
❑ DRUG ALLERGY
▪ is an immunological reaction to a drug.
▪ Ex.) Some antibiotics can cause skin
rashes and pruritus.
❑ ADVERSE EFFECT
▪ Adverse Reaction
▪ heightened side effects
▪ unpredictable and harmful.
▪ Ex) sildenafil causes priapism
➔ ABCDEF OF ADVERSE REACTIONS
Augmented - dose-related AR
Bizarre - non-dose-related AR
Chronic - dose and time-related AR
Delayed - time-related AR
End of Use - AR from withdrawal
Failure - ineffectiveness of therapy
❑ DRUG TOXICITY
▪ harmful effect of the drug on an
organism or tissue, resulting from
overdose or external use.
▪ S/E are more severe.
▪ Ex.) lithium ( treatment of manic
episodes of Bipolar Disorder).
❑ DRUG INTERACTION
▪ occurs when administration of one
drug before or after alters the effect of
one or both drugs.
❑ DRUG MISUSE
▪ is the improper use of common
medications in way that lead to acute
and chronic toxicity.
▪ ex.) Laxatives, Antacids,
Antihistamines
❑ DRUG ABUSE
▪ is an inappropriate intake of substance
either continuously or periodically.
❑ DRUG DEPENDENCE
▪ is a persons reliance on or need to take
drug or substance.
▪ Ex.) Sleeping pills, Laxatives
 ➤ Natural Source
- Drugs are derived from plants, animals,
➔ 2 Types microorganisms, and minerals
● Physiological Synthetic
- is due to biochemical changes in the Semi-synthetic
body’s tissue. Biosynthetic
- these tissue come to require substance ➤ Plants
for normal function. - Some drugs are derived from plants
● Psychological - ex.) morphine from Poppy, atropine from
- is emotional reliance on a drug to Belladonna, digoxin from Digitalis leaf,
maintain a since of wellbeing lagundi syrup from Lagundi leaves
accompanied feeling of need. ➤ Animals
- Ex. Anxiolytics - ex.) thyroxine from porcine or bovine’s thyroid
❑ DRUG HABITUATION gland, insulin from pancreas, omega-3 from
▪ denotes a mild form of psychological fish oil
dependence ➙ Synthetic
▪ Ex.) Ascorbic Acid, Multivitamins ◦ chemically manufactured in laboratories
❑ TOLERANCE ◦ ex) Aspirin (chemically known as
▪ a decreasing response to repetitive drug Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA).
doses ➙ Semi-synthetic
▪ Ex.) Sleeping pills ◦ prepared by chemical modification of natural
❑ ILLICIT DRUG drugs
▪ also called street drug are those sold ◦ ex) Ampicillin from Penicillin G
illegally. ➙ Biosynthetic
❑ BIOAVAILABILITY ◦ Prepared by cloning human DNA (Genetic
▪ means that the drug has reached the Engineering)
circulation and is therefore available ◦ ex) Human insulin, Human growth hormones,
for all the tissues. Human erythropoietin
▪ fraction of drug administered reaching
the systemic circulation. DRUG NAME
❑ THERAPEUTIC INDEX ❑ Chemical name
▪ is a measure of the danger of poisoning ▪ The chemical constitution of the drug
from the drug as well as the exact placement of its
▪ the wider the TI, the safer the drug is. atoms or molecular groupings.
▪ Ex) 6-[D(−)β-amino-p-hydroxyphenyl-
acetamido.] penicillanic acid
▪ C16H19N3O5S
❑ Generic name
▪ is simpler than the chemical name.
▪ It may be used in any country and by
any manufacturer.
▪ Ex) amoxicillin

❑ Brand name
DRUG SOURCE ▪ is followed by the symbol... ®

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 ▪ This symbol indicates that the name is
registered and that the use of the name
is restricted to the owner of the drug,
which is usually the manufacturer.
▪ most drug companies place their
products on the market under brand
names rather than generic names.

❑ Official Name
▪ listed in the official compendia, United
States Pharmacopeia (USP) and
National Formulary (NF)
▪ Usually they use the generic name/s of
the drug in the official list by the US
FDA.

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