Drugs in Use

Ann Richards is a qualified nurse and an experienced university lecturer. She has published several other successful titles, including Elsevier’s best selling ‘A Nurse’s Survival Guide to the Ward’.

INTRODUCTION

Some classes of drugs

Common abbreviations used in drug administration

Latin abbreviations

Routes of administration

Units used in drug administration

Recognised drug abbreviations

Other common abbreviations

SOME DEFINITIONS ROUTES OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Oral administration Intravenous drug administration

Drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination

Absorption

Drug distribution

Drug metabolism and elimination

Mechanisms of drug action – pharmacodynamics

Drug receptors

Some drugs affecting adrenergic transmission

Drugs and the respiratory tract Bronchodilators

Other drugs used in asthma

Steroids (glucocorticoids, corticosteroids

Cardiovascular drugs

Nitrates

Calcium channel blockers

Alpha adrenoreceptor antagonists

Potassium channel activators

ACE-Inhibitors

Angiotensin-II receptor antagonists

Drugs affecting cardiac contractility Digoxin

Adrenaline Atropine

Beta-adrenergic antagonists (beta-blockers)

Antiarrhythmic drugs

Vaughan Williams classification of antidysrhythmic drugs

Examples of drugs used for specific cardiac arrhythmias

Lipid-lowering drugs

Statins

Fibrates

NICE guidance to choice of drug treatment for newly diagnosed hypertension

Prevention of CVD Chronic heart failure Antithrombotics Anticoagulants

Antiplatelet drugs

Thrombolytic agents

Diuretics Urinary incontinence Gastrointestinal tract AntiEmetics Analgesics

Paracetamol NSDAIDs

Opioids

Drugs to treat diabetes mellitus

The different actions of various types of insulin

Oral hypoglycaemic agents and their action

Some antibacterial drugs The central nervous system

Drugs commonly used to prevent seizures in epilepsy

Parkinson’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia

ANTIDEPRESSANTS HYPNOTICS ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS

Predisposing factors

Examples of ADRs

Adverse drug events

Some prescribing and administration errors

Possible causes of prescribing and administration errors

Preventing errors

Drug and food interactions

Some differentiating features of drug overdose

Drugs causing coma

Drugs affecting pupil size

Drugs causing respiratory features

Cardiovascular features

Common drug overdoses

Useful websites