Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (Volume 4 page 135)
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Year 3 Medicine.
Contact: Three lectures and a 1-hour tutorial per week. Three hour practicals and two hour seminars in alternating weeks.
Timetable: Double semester.
Objectives:
On completion of this subject, students should:Comprehend: the concept of drug receptors and the dynamics of drug-receptor interactions, and ways in which drugs act other than through receptors; the principles of pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs in the body); the specific physiological and biochemical processes of systems which are targets for drug action; the pharmacological characteristics of the prototype drugs of particular drug groups, the emphasis being on properties which are therapeutically relevant (mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, uses, major toxic effects and interactions with other drugs); the major differences between drugs of a particular group and the prototype drug in terms of characteristics outlined above; the characteristics of drugs used in the treatment of common and important disorders which affect the major organ systems of the body; the principles of selective toxicity and the pharmacology and toxicity of drugs used in the treatment of infections and neoplastic disease; toxicological hazards posed by domestic, agricultural and industrial poisons and plant and animal toxins and the principles underlying treatment of poisoning and envenomation; factors which might modify drug action (biological variation, altered renal and hepatic function, weight and body composition, age, genetic and acquired idiosyncratic responses, hypersensitivity, drug interactions, tolerance, pregnancy and co-existent disease).
Have developed: measurement and recording skills relevant to the assessment of drug action, including the use of computers for data acquisition and modelling of drug use; skills in using objective sources of drug information.
Appreciate: the importance of understanding the principles of drug action to therapeutics; the elements of the design of clinical trials (single and double blind factors and use of statistics); the linkage between pharmacology and other basic sciences; the importance of pharmacology as the basis for rational drug treatment in the clinical setting.
Content:
Principles of pharmacology, including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; the mechanisms of action of drugs in common use in medicine; mechanism of action of environmental poisons and plant and animal toxins. Mechanisms of drug action; principles of neurohumoral transmission; cardiovascular pharmacology; autacoids; anti-inflammatory drugs; endocrine pharmacology; analgesics and anaesthetics; psychotropic drugs; drugs used in neurological disorders; selective toxicity; industrial and environmental toxicology.
Assessment:
A 1-hour written examination at the end of the first semester (30 per cent) and a 3-hour written examination at the end of the second semester (70 per cent). An oral examination may be held for students who do not pass the written examination.
Prescribed texts:
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Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (Volume 4 page 135)
Status: Official 1996 Date created: Oct 9 1995 Last modified: Oct 9 1995 Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au
Maintained by: Dept. of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.
Copyright © University of Melbourne 1995,1996.