National Board Review (NBDHE): Pharmacology
Questions with Detailed Verified Answers for
Accuracy
Are efficacy and potency of a drug related?
✓✓ No
Potency
✓✓ Amount of drug needed to produce an effect
Greater when the dose is smaller
Efficacy
✓✓ Maximum intensity of effect or response that can be
produced by drug regardless of dose
Administering more drug will not increase the efficacy but will
often increase probability of adverse drug reactions
Half-Life
✓✓ Half the amount of time for a drug to "fall" to half of the
original blood level; related to duration of effect
Oral route of drug administration
✓✓ Safest, least expensive, most convenient
First-pass effect
, ACCURACY IS GUARANTEED
✓✓ Drugs with higher FPE have larger oral to parenteral dose
ratio (example- morphine)
Require a larger dose
Intravascular Route of drug administration
✓✓ Most rapid response (almost immediate)
Absorption phase bypassed
Emergency situations
Major site for drug metabolism
✓✓ Liver
Most important route of drug excretion
✓✓ Renal
Major route of fluoride elimination from the body
✓✓ Excretion in the urine
"Cowling's Rule" and "Young's Rule"
✓✓ Use age in determining child's doose of drug
Surface area rule
✓✓ Most accurate and employs weight (in kg) to determine
child's dose of drug to safely administer
Idiosyncratic reaction
, ACCURACY IS GUARANTEED
✓✓ Abnormal drug response that is usually genetically related
Drug allergy
✓✓ Not dose related
Hypersensitivity response to a drug which the patient has been
previously exposed
Gingival enlargement drugs
✓✓ Phenytoin
Cyclosporine
Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs) - Nifedipine, Verapamil,
Amlodipine
Drugs that do not cause gingival overgrowth
✓✓ Digoxin
Beta blockers
Tegretol
What is the neurotransmitter at the sympathetic pre-ganglionic
synapses?
✓✓ Acetylcholine
Adrenergic drugs