Galen NUR 210 Exam 1 Question and Answer
2026 | Final Review and Exam Preparation
Pack | Grade A+
• Pharmacokinetics -✓✓The process in which medications move
through the body
• What are the 4 phases of pharmacokinetics? -✓✓absorption,
distribution, metabolism, excretion
• Absorption -✓✓happens with drug movement from the GI tract into
the bloodstream. Most meds are taken by mouth.
• Oral absorption -✓✓Takes awhile to get absorbed because it has to go
through the GI system
Usually takes 2-4 hours
•Enteric coated
aspirin - hard on stomach
can not crush pill
•Extended release
absorbed in the small intestine
• IM absorption -✓✓Absorbed 1-2 hours
,• IV absorption -✓✓Absorbed 30-60 minutes
• dissolution -✓✓Dissolution happens when a po medication breaks
down into particles, disintegrates, and dissolves to combine with liquid
so absorption from the GI tract into the bloodstream occurs.
Liquid medications are absorbed faster than solids. Food can interfere
with the absorption of drugs.
• Drugs that resist dissolution -✓✓Parenteral medications (SL,
eyedrops, inhalants, transdermal) do not pass through the GI tract.
Enteric coated medications are designed to resist disintegration until the
pill reaches the small intestine. EC and sustained release meds should
not be crushed.
• Factors that affect absorption -✓✓•Lack of muscle and increased fat
changes medicine absorption
•Food consumption - will change medicine potency (delayed)
•Stress - Exercise, medicine goes to muscle
•pH - Medicine is made for acidic environments
•Antacid changes absorption
•Taken alone so it doesn't change the action
• Excipients -✓✓Fillers and other substances that make up tablets as a
pill is not 100% drug.
,Sometimes an excipient enhances the absorption of a drug such as with
PCN, which is not well absorbed from the GI tract.
Adding Na to PCN, which makes it penicillin sodium, will increase the
absorption of PCN
• first pass effect -✓✓•the oral drugs go to liver via portal vein where
some of the drug becomes inactive
•Only happens with oral medications
• delayed gastric emptying -✓✓Food doesn't move like it should
• Distribution -✓✓refers to the movement of the drug from the
circulation to body tissues
• Factors affecting distribution -✓✓-blood flow to tissues
-protein binding
-blood brain barrier
-drug's affinity to the tissue
• protein binding -✓✓Drugs bind with proteins in blood
Some drugs are highly protein bound and other are weakly protein
bound
• free drugs -✓✓drugs not bound to protein
, • Drug Toxicity -✓✓-Two highly protein bound drugs compete and one
might accumulate and cause a toxicity
-it is important to know if you are administering highly protein bound
medications and monitor albumin levels in patients with liver or kidney
disease.
-Some drugs that are highly protein bound include: Warfarin
Furosemide
Diazepam
• Drug distribution and albumin -✓✓-A decrease in albumin levels
decrease the protein-binding sites, which means more of the free drug is
circulated.
-This can be fatal with some meds.
-Free drugs are those not bound to protein, which means they are active
in the body and cause a pharmacologic response.
-Older adults, malnourished individuals, and those with liver or kidney
disease have low albumin levels.
• Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) -✓✓-The BBB protects the brain from
most drugs.
-Some meds are able to cross the BBB such as benzodiazepines.
-Drugs can cross the placenta and cause spontaneous abortion or alter
fetal growth and development.
2026 | Final Review and Exam Preparation
Pack | Grade A+
• Pharmacokinetics -✓✓The process in which medications move
through the body
• What are the 4 phases of pharmacokinetics? -✓✓absorption,
distribution, metabolism, excretion
• Absorption -✓✓happens with drug movement from the GI tract into
the bloodstream. Most meds are taken by mouth.
• Oral absorption -✓✓Takes awhile to get absorbed because it has to go
through the GI system
Usually takes 2-4 hours
•Enteric coated
aspirin - hard on stomach
can not crush pill
•Extended release
absorbed in the small intestine
• IM absorption -✓✓Absorbed 1-2 hours
,• IV absorption -✓✓Absorbed 30-60 minutes
• dissolution -✓✓Dissolution happens when a po medication breaks
down into particles, disintegrates, and dissolves to combine with liquid
so absorption from the GI tract into the bloodstream occurs.
Liquid medications are absorbed faster than solids. Food can interfere
with the absorption of drugs.
• Drugs that resist dissolution -✓✓Parenteral medications (SL,
eyedrops, inhalants, transdermal) do not pass through the GI tract.
Enteric coated medications are designed to resist disintegration until the
pill reaches the small intestine. EC and sustained release meds should
not be crushed.
• Factors that affect absorption -✓✓•Lack of muscle and increased fat
changes medicine absorption
•Food consumption - will change medicine potency (delayed)
•Stress - Exercise, medicine goes to muscle
•pH - Medicine is made for acidic environments
•Antacid changes absorption
•Taken alone so it doesn't change the action
• Excipients -✓✓Fillers and other substances that make up tablets as a
pill is not 100% drug.
,Sometimes an excipient enhances the absorption of a drug such as with
PCN, which is not well absorbed from the GI tract.
Adding Na to PCN, which makes it penicillin sodium, will increase the
absorption of PCN
• first pass effect -✓✓•the oral drugs go to liver via portal vein where
some of the drug becomes inactive
•Only happens with oral medications
• delayed gastric emptying -✓✓Food doesn't move like it should
• Distribution -✓✓refers to the movement of the drug from the
circulation to body tissues
• Factors affecting distribution -✓✓-blood flow to tissues
-protein binding
-blood brain barrier
-drug's affinity to the tissue
• protein binding -✓✓Drugs bind with proteins in blood
Some drugs are highly protein bound and other are weakly protein
bound
• free drugs -✓✓drugs not bound to protein
, • Drug Toxicity -✓✓-Two highly protein bound drugs compete and one
might accumulate and cause a toxicity
-it is important to know if you are administering highly protein bound
medications and monitor albumin levels in patients with liver or kidney
disease.
-Some drugs that are highly protein bound include: Warfarin
Furosemide
Diazepam
• Drug distribution and albumin -✓✓-A decrease in albumin levels
decrease the protein-binding sites, which means more of the free drug is
circulated.
-This can be fatal with some meds.
-Free drugs are those not bound to protein, which means they are active
in the body and cause a pharmacologic response.
-Older adults, malnourished individuals, and those with liver or kidney
disease have low albumin levels.
• Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) -✓✓-The BBB protects the brain from
most drugs.
-Some meds are able to cross the BBB such as benzodiazepines.
-Drugs can cross the placenta and cause spontaneous abortion or alter
fetal growth and development.
