PHARMACOLOGY EXAM #2 QUESTIONS
WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS [GRADED
A+]
What drugs should not be taken concurrently with grapefruit juice? -
✔✔Calcium channel blockers, benzodiapines, and statins
What is a teratogen? - ✔✔A chemical found in many medications that
have proven to cause birth defects.
What is pharmacodynamics? -Kinetics? - ✔✔Pharmacodynamics: What
the drug does to the body (dynamics-drug)
Pharmacokinetics: what the body does to the drug (absorb, distribute,
metabolize, excrete).
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
,What is the first pass effect? - ✔✔When drugs move through the GI and
are metabolized by the liver before they perform desired effect. Giving
medication parenterally keeps the drug in the blood for longer because it
will take longer for all the blood to move through the liver.
What is half-life? - ✔✔The length of time it take to decrease the original
dosage of the drug in the BLOOD by half. It is excreted.
What is an idiopathic response? - ✔✔A response that is unpredicted,
unexplainable.
Symptoms of salicylism - ✔✔TINNITUS, metabolic acidosis associated
with hyperventilation (compensatory respiratory alkalosis)
Nursing implication when administering opioids (morphine) - ✔✔1.
Respiratory depression***
2. Constipation (decrease peristalsis)***
3. Euphoria (kappa; addictive)
4. Hypotension
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
,5. Urinary retention
What opioid antagonist should you know? How does it act? - ✔✔Narcan
(Naloxone) is an opioid antagonist. It has a greater AFFINITY (liking) to
opioid receptors (mu and kappa) kicking the opioid out. Causes immediate
withdrawal symptoms. Used when an opioid causes severe respiratory
depression
What is Naltrexone? When is it used? - ✔✔Naltrexone is a partial opioid
antagonist. It is generally used to wean dependence because it takes away
the feeling of the high but it does not induce withdrawal symptoms.
What is Tramadol? Why is it preferred over opioids and NSAIDs? -
✔✔Non-opioid drug that only acts on mu receptors (not kappa that cause
respiratory depression and euphoria making it addictive). It is preferred
because it DOES NOT cause respiratory depression and DOES NOT
cause GI upset.
What drugs are used to treat muscle spasms? How do they work? -
✔✔NSAIDs and muscle relaxers. Muscle relaxers do not act directly on
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
, the muscle, but as a sedative (cyclobenzaprine). Dantrolene is the only
drug that acts directly on the muscle, although is no longer prescribed due
to causing death
Maximum daily dosage of acetaminophen (Tylenol). Why? - ✔✔Maximum
dose is 4000 mg/day. Extremely hard on the liver and is put in a lot of OTC
drugs (cough syrup, tylenol). It is the leading cause of acute liver failure in
the US. Used with sensitivity to NSAIDs because there is no GI upset.
What should you monitor in a patient taking pseudophedrine and has
diabetes? - ✔✔Pseduo is an adrenergic agonist and therefore naturally
increases glucose levels, but make it so testing insulin levels is ineffective.
SIGNS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA ARE MASKED; MONITOR GLUCOSE
LEVELS CLOSELY
What might a nurse expect when administering pseudophedrine, an
adrenergic agonist? - ✔✔Vasoconstriction (increased BP), dilated pupils
(sympathetic effect). May cause REFLEX BRADYCARDIA. Should not be
administered within 21 days of administering a MAOI.
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS [GRADED
A+]
What drugs should not be taken concurrently with grapefruit juice? -
✔✔Calcium channel blockers, benzodiapines, and statins
What is a teratogen? - ✔✔A chemical found in many medications that
have proven to cause birth defects.
What is pharmacodynamics? -Kinetics? - ✔✔Pharmacodynamics: What
the drug does to the body (dynamics-drug)
Pharmacokinetics: what the body does to the drug (absorb, distribute,
metabolize, excrete).
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
,What is the first pass effect? - ✔✔When drugs move through the GI and
are metabolized by the liver before they perform desired effect. Giving
medication parenterally keeps the drug in the blood for longer because it
will take longer for all the blood to move through the liver.
What is half-life? - ✔✔The length of time it take to decrease the original
dosage of the drug in the BLOOD by half. It is excreted.
What is an idiopathic response? - ✔✔A response that is unpredicted,
unexplainable.
Symptoms of salicylism - ✔✔TINNITUS, metabolic acidosis associated
with hyperventilation (compensatory respiratory alkalosis)
Nursing implication when administering opioids (morphine) - ✔✔1.
Respiratory depression***
2. Constipation (decrease peristalsis)***
3. Euphoria (kappa; addictive)
4. Hypotension
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
,5. Urinary retention
What opioid antagonist should you know? How does it act? - ✔✔Narcan
(Naloxone) is an opioid antagonist. It has a greater AFFINITY (liking) to
opioid receptors (mu and kappa) kicking the opioid out. Causes immediate
withdrawal symptoms. Used when an opioid causes severe respiratory
depression
What is Naltrexone? When is it used? - ✔✔Naltrexone is a partial opioid
antagonist. It is generally used to wean dependence because it takes away
the feeling of the high but it does not induce withdrawal symptoms.
What is Tramadol? Why is it preferred over opioids and NSAIDs? -
✔✔Non-opioid drug that only acts on mu receptors (not kappa that cause
respiratory depression and euphoria making it addictive). It is preferred
because it DOES NOT cause respiratory depression and DOES NOT
cause GI upset.
What drugs are used to treat muscle spasms? How do they work? -
✔✔NSAIDs and muscle relaxers. Muscle relaxers do not act directly on
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
, the muscle, but as a sedative (cyclobenzaprine). Dantrolene is the only
drug that acts directly on the muscle, although is no longer prescribed due
to causing death
Maximum daily dosage of acetaminophen (Tylenol). Why? - ✔✔Maximum
dose is 4000 mg/day. Extremely hard on the liver and is put in a lot of OTC
drugs (cough syrup, tylenol). It is the leading cause of acute liver failure in
the US. Used with sensitivity to NSAIDs because there is no GI upset.
What should you monitor in a patient taking pseudophedrine and has
diabetes? - ✔✔Pseduo is an adrenergic agonist and therefore naturally
increases glucose levels, but make it so testing insulin levels is ineffective.
SIGNS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA ARE MASKED; MONITOR GLUCOSE
LEVELS CLOSELY
What might a nurse expect when administering pseudophedrine, an
adrenergic agonist? - ✔✔Vasoconstriction (increased BP), dilated pupils
(sympathetic effect). May cause REFLEX BRADYCARDIA. Should not be
administered within 21 days of administering a MAOI.
©morren2025/2026.Year published 2026.
