Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Ms. BD is a 33-year-old G2P1 African-American female who presents to your clinic today complaining of unusual fatigue, nausea, and vomiting for the last five days. She has a medical history of chronic hypertension (HTN) that was diagnosed shortly after her first pregnancy two years ago and GERD. MS. BD’s blood pressure is controlled on Lisinopril-Hydrochlorothiazide 20/12.5mg by mouth twice a day, and GERD controlled on Bismuth Subsalicylate 262mg by mouth every 6 hours as needed. During the interview, you learn that she is single, sexually active, has one partner and that her menses is ten days late. She performed a home pregnancy the three days after missing her menstrual cycle, and the results were inconclusive. She states she feels terrible and needs relief. She has no other medical problems, symptoms, or concerns.
Assessment: Physical examination is unremarkable. BP128/68, HR is 74, Urine human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) positive, beta HCG sent, potassium 4.2, blood
urea nitrogen (BUN) 14, creatinine is 0.6, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 29, White blood cells (WBCs) 6.5, hemoglobin (Hgb) 12.8, hematocrit (Hct) 39, and platelets 330,000.
- List the additional questions you would need to ask this patient. Explain.
- What is the safety profile of Lisinopril-hydrochlorothiazide and bismuth subsalicylate in pregnant women? What are the possible complications to the pregnant woman and her fetus?
- What is the importance of assessing laboratory values when prescribing medications? How might the laboratory values, in this case, impact your treatment plan?
- Would you make any changes to Ms. BD’s blood pressure and GERD medications? Explain. If yes, what would you prescribe? Discuss the medications safety in pregnancy, mechanism of action, route, the half-life; how it is metabolized in and eliminated from the body; and contraindications and black box warnings.
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- How does ethnopharmacology apply to this patient if she were NOT pregnant? Explain.
- What health maintenance or preventive education do you provide in this client case based on your choice of medications/treatment?
- Would you treat this patient or refer her? Explain. If you refer, where would you refer this patient
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action,[1] where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemical or physiological effect on the cell, tissue, organ, or organism (sometimes the word pharmacon is used as a term to encompass these endogenous and exogenous bioactive species). More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function. If substances have medicinal properties, they are considered pharmaceuticals.
The field encompasses drug composition and properties, synthesis and drug design, molecular and cellular mechanisms, organ/systems mechanisms, signal transduction/cellular communication, molecular diagnostics, interactions, chemical biology, therapy, and medical applications and antipathogenic capabilities. The two main areas of pharmacology are pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Pharmacodynamics studies the effects of a drug on biological systems, and pharmacokinetics studies the effects of biological systems on a drug. In broad terms, pharmacodynamics discusses the chemicals with biological receptors, and pharmacokinetics discusses the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) of chemicals from the biological systems.
Pharmacology is not synonymous with pharmacy and the two terms are frequently confused. Pharmacology, a biomedical science, deals with the research, discovery, and characterization of chemicals which show biological effects and the elucidation of cellular and organismal function in relation to these chemicals. In contrast, pharmacy, a health services profession, is concerned with the application of the principles learned from pharmacology in its clinical settings; whether it be in a dispensing or clinical care role. In either field, the primary contrast between the two is their distinctions between direct-patient care, pharmacy practice, and the science-oriented research field, driven by pharmacology
