Complete Study Guide for WGU
D116 Advanced Pharmacology
Pre-Assessment Expert-Verified
Questions and Step-by-Step
Solutions for Top Grades Prepared for WGU
Students September 30, 2025
,Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Prescriptive Authority and Patient Adherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1 What restricts nurse practitioners ability to prescribe medications? 6
2.2 Whats the first question to ask a patient reporting ineffective
migraine medication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Why might IV gentamicin levels be elevated in a patient? . . . . 6
2.4 What happens when two drugs compete for plasma protein bind-
ing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Why do individuals respond differently to the same medication? 7
2.6 What indicates a patient understands beta-blocker use for mi-
graines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7 What should a patient know about clonidine patch for hyperten-
sion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.8 What history is critical before starting pramipexole for Parkinsons? 8
2.9 How to adjust memantine dose with changing kidney function? 8
2.10 What shows a student understands memantines role in Alzheimers? 8
2.11 What are the consequences of restricted prescribing authority?
(Select all) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.12 Which patients are at higher risk for drug side effects? (Select all) 9
2.13 Why does a friend on the same drug have a different response? 9
2.14 How to confirm patient understanding of beta-blockers for mi-
graines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.15 When should a clonidine patch be changed for BP control? . . . 9
2.16 What to screen for before pramipexole in Parkinsons? . . . . . . 10
2.17 How to handle memantine with low kidney clearance? . . . . . . 10
2.18 Whats the correct explanation of memantines mechanism? . . . 10
2.19 How to check migraine medication adherence? . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.20 What causes high gentamicin levels in blood? . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3 Drug Interactions and Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 What happens when propranolol is given with albuterol in asthma? 11
3.2 Which antibiotic is safer for a breastfeeding mother with sinusitis? 11
3.3 Why does morphine cause constipation in cancer patients? . . . 11
3.4 Whats the expected effect of dobutamine in cardiogenic shock? 11
3.5 What to do for a non-compliant hypertensive patient? . . . . . . 12
3.6 Which glaucoma drug to avoid in a patient with heart block? . . 12
3.7 Whats the issue with cimetidine and metoprolol together? . . . 12
3.8 What to check if a patient on lidocaine sweats and faints? . . . . 12
3.9 Which drug for shoulder nerve pain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.10 Which pain drug for a back pain patient with constipation history? 13
3.11 Can nitroglycerin be given 8 hours after sildenafil for chest pain? 13
3.12 What baseline lab for lithium in bipolar disorder? . . . . . . . . . 13
3.13 Who can safely use sildenafil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.14 How does citalopram help anxiety? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.15 Whats baclofens role in Huntingtons disease? . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1
, 3.16 What seizure type involves unawareness and post-seizure depres-
sion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.17 Whats the risk of stopping oxycodone abruptly? . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.18 Which antidepressant may improve sexual function? . . . . . . . 15
3.19 What to monitor with a beta-agonist for wheezing? . . . . . . . . 15
3.20 How to handle an oxycodone refill request for chronic pain? . . 15
4 Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1 Whats the most common side effect of lisinopril? . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 How to correct low potassium from furosemide? . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3 Whats the risk of fluoxetine and tramadol together? . . . . . . . 16
4.4 Which organ is most affected by acetaminophen overdose? . . . 16
4.5 What to do with metformin before a CT scan with contrast? . . 16
4.6 Is lisinopril safe in pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.7 How to manage high INR on warfarin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.8 Why avoid propranolol in asthma patients? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.9 Whats the risk of TMP-SMX in late pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.10 How does lorazepam affect the elderly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.11 What does a drugs half-life indicate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.12 What reduces a drugs effect due to first-pass metabolism? . . . . 18
4.13 Whats the role of cytochrome P450 enzymes? . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.14 What does bioavailability of a drug mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.15 When is a drug at steady state? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.16 What conditions reduce drug clearance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.17 What defines an agonist drug? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.18 Whats an example of an antagonist drug? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.19 What does volume of distribution indicate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.20 Which drug has a narrow therapeutic index? . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5 Autonomic Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.1 How does atropine treat slow heart rate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2 Where are beta-1 receptors primarily located? . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.3 Whats an example of an alpha-1 agonist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.4 Whats a common side effect of cholinergic drugs? . . . . . . . . . 20
5.5 How does epinephrine work in anaphylaxis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.6 Which drug blocks muscarinic receptors in COPD? . . . . . . . . 21
5.7 Whats the primary use of norepinephrine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.8 Whats a long-term risk of beta-2 agonists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.9 Which anticholinergic helps Parkinsons symptoms? . . . . . . . . 22
5.10 Which sympathetic drug treats hypotension? . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6 GI and Endocrine Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.1 How does omeprazole reduce stomach acid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 Whats the role of metoclopramide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.3 When to take levothyroxine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.4 Whats unique about insulin glargine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.5 How does glucagon treat hypoglycemia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.6 How does ondansetron prevent nausea? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.7 Whats the action of sucralfate in ulcers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2
, 6.8 How does pioglitazone help diabetes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.9 What does loperamide do for diarrhea? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.10 How does propylthiouracil treat hyperthyroidism? . . . . . . . . . 24
7 Antimicrobials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.1 What are signs of penicillin allergy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.2 Whats vancomycins role in MRSA infections? . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.3 What does ciprofloxacin cover? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.4 Whats azithromycin used for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.5 What infections does metronidazole treat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.6 Whats the main toxicity of amphotericin B? . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.7 Why avoid doxycycline in children under 8? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.8 Whats a key risk of clindamycin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.9 Whats fluconazoles primary use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.10 Is amoxicillin safe in pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8 Pain and Neurologic Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.1 How does gabapentin treat neuropathic pain? . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.2 Whats tramadols mechanism of action? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.3 How does sumatriptan relieve migraines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.4 Whats phenytoins role in seizures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.5 How is naloxone administered for opioid overdose? . . . . . . . . 27
8.6 What are common carbamazepine side effects? . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.7 How to manage morphine in renal failure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.8 Whats the use of lidocaine patches for shingles pain? . . . . . . . 28
8.9 How does valproate help bipolar disorder? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.10 What increases bleeding risk with NSAIDs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9 Cardiovascular Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.1 What are signs of digoxin toxicity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.2 What lung risk is associated with amiodarone? . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.3 How does losartan lower blood pressure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.4 How does nitroglycerin relieve angina? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.5 What are common statin side effects? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.6 Whats clopidogrels mechanism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.7 How does spironolactone benefit heart failure? . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.8 Whats hydralazines role in hypertension? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.9 What arrhythmia is flecainide used for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.10 How is heparin therapy monitored? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10 Respiratory Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.1 How does montelukast help asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.2 What are signs of albuterol overdose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.3 Whats fluticasones role in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.4 Whats the use of theophylline in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.5 How does tiotropium help COPD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.6 Whats salmeterols role in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.7 When is beclomethasone dosed for asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.8 Whats omalizumabs use in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3
D116 Advanced Pharmacology
Pre-Assessment Expert-Verified
Questions and Step-by-Step
Solutions for Top Grades Prepared for WGU
Students September 30, 2025
,Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Prescriptive Authority and Patient Adherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1 What restricts nurse practitioners ability to prescribe medications? 6
2.2 Whats the first question to ask a patient reporting ineffective
migraine medication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Why might IV gentamicin levels be elevated in a patient? . . . . 6
2.4 What happens when two drugs compete for plasma protein bind-
ing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Why do individuals respond differently to the same medication? 7
2.6 What indicates a patient understands beta-blocker use for mi-
graines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7 What should a patient know about clonidine patch for hyperten-
sion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.8 What history is critical before starting pramipexole for Parkinsons? 8
2.9 How to adjust memantine dose with changing kidney function? 8
2.10 What shows a student understands memantines role in Alzheimers? 8
2.11 What are the consequences of restricted prescribing authority?
(Select all) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.12 Which patients are at higher risk for drug side effects? (Select all) 9
2.13 Why does a friend on the same drug have a different response? 9
2.14 How to confirm patient understanding of beta-blockers for mi-
graines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.15 When should a clonidine patch be changed for BP control? . . . 9
2.16 What to screen for before pramipexole in Parkinsons? . . . . . . 10
2.17 How to handle memantine with low kidney clearance? . . . . . . 10
2.18 Whats the correct explanation of memantines mechanism? . . . 10
2.19 How to check migraine medication adherence? . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.20 What causes high gentamicin levels in blood? . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3 Drug Interactions and Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 What happens when propranolol is given with albuterol in asthma? 11
3.2 Which antibiotic is safer for a breastfeeding mother with sinusitis? 11
3.3 Why does morphine cause constipation in cancer patients? . . . 11
3.4 Whats the expected effect of dobutamine in cardiogenic shock? 11
3.5 What to do for a non-compliant hypertensive patient? . . . . . . 12
3.6 Which glaucoma drug to avoid in a patient with heart block? . . 12
3.7 Whats the issue with cimetidine and metoprolol together? . . . 12
3.8 What to check if a patient on lidocaine sweats and faints? . . . . 12
3.9 Which drug for shoulder nerve pain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.10 Which pain drug for a back pain patient with constipation history? 13
3.11 Can nitroglycerin be given 8 hours after sildenafil for chest pain? 13
3.12 What baseline lab for lithium in bipolar disorder? . . . . . . . . . 13
3.13 Who can safely use sildenafil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.14 How does citalopram help anxiety? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.15 Whats baclofens role in Huntingtons disease? . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1
, 3.16 What seizure type involves unawareness and post-seizure depres-
sion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.17 Whats the risk of stopping oxycodone abruptly? . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.18 Which antidepressant may improve sexual function? . . . . . . . 15
3.19 What to monitor with a beta-agonist for wheezing? . . . . . . . . 15
3.20 How to handle an oxycodone refill request for chronic pain? . . 15
4 Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1 Whats the most common side effect of lisinopril? . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 How to correct low potassium from furosemide? . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3 Whats the risk of fluoxetine and tramadol together? . . . . . . . 16
4.4 Which organ is most affected by acetaminophen overdose? . . . 16
4.5 What to do with metformin before a CT scan with contrast? . . 16
4.6 Is lisinopril safe in pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.7 How to manage high INR on warfarin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.8 Why avoid propranolol in asthma patients? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.9 Whats the risk of TMP-SMX in late pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.10 How does lorazepam affect the elderly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.11 What does a drugs half-life indicate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.12 What reduces a drugs effect due to first-pass metabolism? . . . . 18
4.13 Whats the role of cytochrome P450 enzymes? . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.14 What does bioavailability of a drug mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.15 When is a drug at steady state? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.16 What conditions reduce drug clearance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.17 What defines an agonist drug? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.18 Whats an example of an antagonist drug? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.19 What does volume of distribution indicate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.20 Which drug has a narrow therapeutic index? . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5 Autonomic Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.1 How does atropine treat slow heart rate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2 Where are beta-1 receptors primarily located? . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.3 Whats an example of an alpha-1 agonist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.4 Whats a common side effect of cholinergic drugs? . . . . . . . . . 20
5.5 How does epinephrine work in anaphylaxis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.6 Which drug blocks muscarinic receptors in COPD? . . . . . . . . 21
5.7 Whats the primary use of norepinephrine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.8 Whats a long-term risk of beta-2 agonists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.9 Which anticholinergic helps Parkinsons symptoms? . . . . . . . . 22
5.10 Which sympathetic drug treats hypotension? . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6 GI and Endocrine Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.1 How does omeprazole reduce stomach acid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 Whats the role of metoclopramide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.3 When to take levothyroxine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.4 Whats unique about insulin glargine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.5 How does glucagon treat hypoglycemia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.6 How does ondansetron prevent nausea? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.7 Whats the action of sucralfate in ulcers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2
, 6.8 How does pioglitazone help diabetes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.9 What does loperamide do for diarrhea? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.10 How does propylthiouracil treat hyperthyroidism? . . . . . . . . . 24
7 Antimicrobials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.1 What are signs of penicillin allergy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.2 Whats vancomycins role in MRSA infections? . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.3 What does ciprofloxacin cover? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.4 Whats azithromycin used for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.5 What infections does metronidazole treat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.6 Whats the main toxicity of amphotericin B? . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.7 Why avoid doxycycline in children under 8? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.8 Whats a key risk of clindamycin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.9 Whats fluconazoles primary use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.10 Is amoxicillin safe in pregnancy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8 Pain and Neurologic Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.1 How does gabapentin treat neuropathic pain? . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.2 Whats tramadols mechanism of action? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.3 How does sumatriptan relieve migraines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.4 Whats phenytoins role in seizures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.5 How is naloxone administered for opioid overdose? . . . . . . . . 27
8.6 What are common carbamazepine side effects? . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.7 How to manage morphine in renal failure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.8 Whats the use of lidocaine patches for shingles pain? . . . . . . . 28
8.9 How does valproate help bipolar disorder? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.10 What increases bleeding risk with NSAIDs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9 Cardiovascular Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.1 What are signs of digoxin toxicity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.2 What lung risk is associated with amiodarone? . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.3 How does losartan lower blood pressure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.4 How does nitroglycerin relieve angina? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.5 What are common statin side effects? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.6 Whats clopidogrels mechanism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.7 How does spironolactone benefit heart failure? . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.8 Whats hydralazines role in hypertension? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.9 What arrhythmia is flecainide used for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.10 How is heparin therapy monitored? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10 Respiratory Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.1 How does montelukast help asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.2 What are signs of albuterol overdose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.3 Whats fluticasones role in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.4 Whats the use of theophylline in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.5 How does tiotropium help COPD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.6 Whats salmeterols role in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.7 When is beclomethasone dosed for asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.8 Whats omalizumabs use in asthma? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3
