Drug Therapy

Front 1

Minimum Effective Concentration (M.E.C.)

Back 1

plasma drug level below which therapeutic effects will not occur

Front 2

Toxic Concentration

Back 2

Plasma level at which toxic effects begin

Front 3

Therapeutic Range

Back 3

falling between the M.E.C. and toxic concentration

Front 4

plateau

Back 4

steady level

Front 5

half-life

Back 5

time required for the amount of drug in the body to decrease by 50%

Front 6

how does half-life affect dosing schedule?

Back 6

no matter what the amt of drug in the body may be 50% will leave during a specified period of time.
(more drug, larger amt lost)

Front 7

peak concentration

Back 7

highest level

Front 8

trough concentration

Back 8

lowest level

Front 9

loading dose. Why is it used?

Back 9

large initial dose used when plateau must be achieved more quickly

Front 10

maintenance dose. When are doses decreased to a maintenance dose?

Back 10

smaller doses. after high drug levels have been est with a loading dose

Front 11

when drug administration is discontinued, how many half-lives will it take for most (94%) of the drug in the body

Back 11

four

Front 12

pharmacodynamics

Back 12

what drugs do to the body and how they do it

Front 13

four reasons nurse need a basic understanding of pharmacodynamics

Back 13

1.drug actions to educate pts about meds
2.make PRN decisions
3 evaluate pts for drug responses (beneficial and harmful)
4. understanding drug actions by conferring w/physican about therapy

Front 14

maximal efficacy

Back 14

largest effect drug can produce

Front 15

potency

Back 15

amount of drug we must give to elicit an effect (how strong a drug is to work)

Front 16

potency vs maximal efficacy

Back 16

(independent qualities) potency implies nothing about efficacy, drug A can be more effective than B though B is more potent

Front 17

drug receptor

Back 17

most important group of macromolecules which a drug binds to produce its effects

Front 18

5 macromolecules where drugs bind to cause a response

Back 18

enzymes
ribosomes
neurotransmitters
hormones
other regulatory molecules

Front 19

endogenous

Back 19

produced or originating from within a cell or organism

Front 20

selectivity and how it relates to potential side effects

Back 20

more selective a drug is, the fewer side effects it will produce

Front 21

2 principles of simple occupancy theory of drug receptor interaction

Back 21

1. the intensity of the response to a drug is proportional to the number of receptors occupied by that drug
2. a maximal response will occur when all available receptors have been occupied.