Pharmacology (2 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

The student
- is able to describe general principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics;
- knows the medications used to treat the most common diseases, their mechanisms of action, indications for use and the most common interactions and adverse reactions;
- is able to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of medications.

Content (course unit)

- the mechanism of medications in the human body and elimination of medications
- adverse drug reactions and harmful drug interactions
- antimicrobial drugs, cardiovascular drugs, respiratory drugs, gastrointestinal drugs, metabolic and endocrinologic drugs, cancer drugs
- special considerations of medication management concerning pediatric and gerontological patients

Prerequisites (course unit)

30 ects of initial stage studies must be completed before entering the middle stage studies.
Pharmacotherapy and Medical Calculations 3 ects

Exam schedules

Exam on the exam platform on week 51-52
Redoing failed exams will be announced after the main exam

Assessment methods and criteria

The course will be evaluated on the exam result on a scale of 0-5. The minimum points needed for completion are 50% of the maximum points on the exam.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

Local lectures 12 hours according to the tuni lukkari schedule.
Independent studies 41h
1-hour exam on the exam platform.
Each lecture consists of a few main categories and there are 6 to 8 assignments that have to be done before each lecture. It is also recommended to read the subjects from the coursebook before each lecture. During the lectures, we will go through the answers for each assignment and further develop understanding of the subject via a lecture.

Learning materials

Lecture material (assignments and slides)
Pharmacology: Brenner, G. M., Stevens, C. W. & Brenner, G. M. (2018). Pharmacology (Fifth edition.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier. (https://tuni.finna.fi/Record/tamcat.1039639)

Student workload

Mandatory orientation lecture. Local lectures 12 hours according to the tuni lukkari schedule. Not compulsory.
Independent studies 41h
1-hour exam on the exam platform.

Content scheduling

Near contact lectures will be held in 6 x 90 min periods. All of the subjects can be studied from the self-learning material.
1) Basics of pharmacology: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Interactions and harmful side-effects of medication.
2) cardiovascular drugs, hypertension, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidaemias, heart failure, and anticoagulant medication
3) antimicrobial drugs: antibiotics, antifungals, and antiviral drugs.
4) respiratory drugs: asthma and COPD
5) gastrointestinal drugs: constipation, diarrhea, antacids and inflammatory bowel diseses
6) metabolic and endocrinologic drugs: diabetes mellitus,
7) medication used in cancer treatment
8) special considerations of medication management concerning pediatric and gerontological patient

Further information

Contact information for the teacher:
Joosep.kalamagi@gmail.com or 050 5452709

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student shows a lack of understanding in basic principalities of medication pharmacology, indications of use and typical side-effects of these medications.

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student understands basic principalities of medication pharmacology, indications of use and typical side-effects of these medications.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Additional to previous grade the student understands the basic pharmacodynamics of the medication and has a basic understanding of pharmacological interactions and side-effects.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Additional to the previous grade the student can understand interactions on a deeper level and utilize the understanding for assessing the effectiveness of medication on patients.