NURSING 12221

NURSING 12221 Assignment, Chapter 1 Introduction to Drugs 1. Pharmacology is the science that deals with the origin, nature, chemistry, effects, and uses of drugs; it includes pharmacognosy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacotherapeutics, and toxicology. Clinical Pharmacology is the study and evaluation of the effects of drugs in humans. Nurses deal with pharmacotherapeutics , or clinical pharmacology, the branch of pharmacology that uses drugs to treat, prevent and diagnose disease. Clinical pharmacology addresses two key concerns: the effect(s) of the drug on the body (pharmacodynamics) and the way in which the body handles the drug ( pharmacokinetics ). A drug can have many effects; therefore, the nurse must know which ones may occur when a particular drug is administered. Most of these effects are therapeutic, or helpful, whereas others can be undesirable or potentially dangerous and are known as adverse effects. 2. Investigational New Drug Application (IND)--The pharmaceutical industry sometimes seeks advice from the FDA prior to submission of an IND. Sponsors--companies, research institutions, and other organizations that take responsibility for developing a drug. They must show the FDA results of preclinical testing in laboratory animals and what they propose to do for human testing. At this stage, the FDA decides whether it is reasonably safe for the company