Pharm 1
Terms
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- 100,000 Lives Campaign
- A 2005-2006 campaign of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to radically reduce morbidity and mortality in American health care, including preventing as many as 100,000 avoidable patient deaths, through specific improvements in the operations of heal
- Additive effects
- Drug interactions in which the effect of a combination of two or more drugs with similar actions is equivalent to the sum of the individual effects of the same drugs given alone.
- Adjunct therapy
- Combination drug therapy used when a patient's condition does not respond adequately to a single drug (monotherapy), or used when a given combination of medications is known to have therapeutic benefits over a single drug.
- Adjuvant analgesic drugs
- Drugs that are added as a second drug for combined therapy with a primary drug and may have additive or independent analgesic properties, or both.
- Adverse effects
- As related to the intake of drugs, an adverse effect is toxicity to body structures, such as the liver, kidney, eyes, ears, and hematologic and sexual organ systems. Any unexpected, unintended, undesired, or excessive response to a medication given at th
- Agonist
- molecules that activate receptors. A drug that mimics the bodys own regulatory process.
- Allergic drug reaction (ADRs)
- An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is any reaction to a drug that is unexpected and undesirable and occurs at therapeutic drug dosages. ADRs may or may not be caused by MEs. ADRs may result in hospital admission, prolongation of hospital stay, change in drug
- Allergic reaction
- An immunologic hypersensitivity reaction resulting from the unusual sensitivity of a patient to a particular medication; a type of ADE. An allergic reaction (also known as a hypersensitivity reaction) involves the patient's immune system. Immune system
- Amphetamines
- Central nervous system (CNS) stimulants that produce mood elevation or euphoria, increase mental alertness and capacity to work, decrease fatigue and drowsiness, and prolong wakefulness.
- Anesthesics
- Drugs that depress the central nervous system (CNS) to produce diminution of consciousness, loss of responsiveness to sensory stimulation, or muscle relaxation.
- Antagonist
- produces their effects by preventing receptors activation by endogenous regulatory molecules and drugs. Block activation of receptors by agonists.
- Anticholinergic drugs
- Drugs that block or impede the activity of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) at cholinergic receptors in the brain. Benztropine, biperiden, procyclidine, trihexyphenidyl are examples.
- Autoinduction
- A metabolic process that occurs when a drug increases its own metabolism over time, leading to lower than expected drug concentrations.
- Black box warning
- A special warning required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the commercial drug labeling for drugs that have shown a pattern of major adverse effects.
- Dopaminergic drugs
- Drugs used to replace the deficiency of dopamine at dopamine receptors in the nerve endings, especially in the brain when treating Parkinson's disease (PD) (can be direct- or indirect-acting or replacement drugs). Bromocriptine (Parlodel) and pergolide (P
- Drug interaction
- Alteration in the pharmacologic activity of a given drug caused by the presence of one or more additional drugs; it is usually related to effects on the enzymes required for metabolism of the involved drugs.
- Hypnotics
- Drugs that, when given at low to moderate dosages, calm or soothe the central nervous system (CNS) without inducing sleep but when given at high dosages may cause sleep.
- Incompatibility
- The quality of two parenteral drugs or solutions that leads to a reaction resulting in the chemical deterioration of at least one of the drugs when the two substances are mixed.
- Maligant hyperthermia
- A genetically-linked major adverse reaction to general anesthesia, characterized by a rapid rise in body temperature, as well as tachycardia, tachypnea, and sweating.
- Medication error
- Any preventable ADE involving inappropriate medication use by a patient or health care professional; it may or may not cause patient harm.
- Medication reconciliation
- A procedure implemented by health care providers to continually maintain an accurate and up-to-date list of medications for all patients at every phase of health care that is communicated in a timely manner to all applicable members of the health care tea
- Narrow therapeutic index
- Drugs that are characterized by a narrow difference between their therapeutic and toxic doses.
- Opioid analgesics
- Synthetic narcotic drugs that bind to opiate receptors to relieve pain but are not themselves derived from the opium plant.
- Pain threshold
- The level of a stimulus that results in the perception of pain.
- Peak effect
- The time required for a drug to reach its maximum therapeutic response in the body.
- Psychotherapeutics
- Refers to the therapy of emotional and mental disorders. It may involve drug therapy (pharmacotherapy), a variety of counseling techniques, recreational therapy, and, in extreme cases, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
- Receptor
- Receptors are usually specialized protein molecules on the outer surfaces of cells or within cells to which drug molecules bind to exert their effects.
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
- Also called serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors. Any of a heterogenous group of newer medications used to treat depression and certain other mental illnesses. They work by selectively reducing postsynaptic reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin in
- Somatic pain
- Pain that originates from skeletal muscles, ligaments, or joints.
- Steady state
- The physiologic state in which the amount of drug removed via elimination is equal to the amount of drug absorbed with each dose.
- Sympathomimetic drugs
- CNS stimulants such as noradrenergic drugs (and, to a lesser degree, dopaminergic drugs) whose actions resemble or mimic those of the sympathetic nervous system.
- Synergistic effects
- Drug interactions in which the effect of a combination of two or more drugs with similar actions is greater than the sum of the individual effects of the same drugs given alone.
- Therapeutic index
- The therapeutic index of a drug shows at what levels the drug is considered toxic and what levels the drug is considered therapeutic.
- Trough level
- The lowest concentration of drug reached in the body after it falls from its peak level, usually measured in a blood sample for therapeutic drug monitoring
- Visceral pain
- Pain that originates from organs or smooth muscles.