INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PHARMACY

Pharmacon = an active principle (drug)
Logos = a discourse or treatise

PHARMACOLOGY: It is the science that deals with drugs. It consists of detailed study of drugs, particularly their actions on living animals, organs or tissues. The actions may be beneficial or harmful.

CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY: It is the scientific study of drugs in human being.

FIELDS OF PHARMACOLOGY:

- Pharmacy: It is the art of preparing, compounding and dispensing medicine in such a way so as to make the medication suitable for easy, effective and palatable administration in the treatment of a disease. It is concerned with collection, preparation and standardization of drugs.

- Hospital pharmacy: Practice of pharmacy in private and government owned hospitals.

- Clinical pharmacy: Division of pharmacy, which deals with patient care with particular emphasis on drug therapy. In practice it is patient oriented and includes not only the dispensing of required medication but also advising the patient on the proper use of all medications, both prescribed and patient selected. It also utilizes the pharmacist as an information source for members of the medical and other health professions on all matters pertaining to drugs and their dosage forms.

- Pharmacognosy: It is the study of identification, source and physical properties of medicinal substances. "pharmacon" = an active principle ( drug) "gnosy" = knowledge

- Pharmacodynamics: It is the study of action of drugs on living organisms (what the drug does to the body).

- Pharmacokinetics: It is the study of absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion of drugs (what the body does to the drug).

- Pharmacotherapeutics: It is a branch of medicine concerned with the cure of disease or relief of symptoms and includes drug treatment. (It deals with the use of drugs in clinical practice).

Toxicology: It is the science of poisons dealing with their detection, measurement and treatment. (Poisons are substances that cause harmful, dangerous or fatal symptoms in animals and human beings).

Category: Pharmacology Notes