Question

Chapter 37 Pamacology Basics REVIEW OF CONCEPTS r e Avil g qnstions Write your ansser on the line or in the space proided Introduction Explain why medical assistants need to know about medications A 2 Describe what medical assistants need to know about medications. Pharmacology Basics 1List the natural sources of drugs and give one example of each. B. List two advantages of synthetic medications. Describe the eight uses of drugs and list one example for each use. Absorption Diskut 4. Describe the four parts of pharmacokinetics. medabolism excrehar 5 Describe the impact of the blood-brain barrier to the distribution of medication.

Answer 1

Explain why medical assistants need to know about medications

Medical assistants play an important role in the healthcare industry. Depending on the clinical setting, medical assistants may be called upon to perform basic clinical tasks, such as administering medications, vital sign measurement, phlebotomy, and assisting with physical examinations and patient education. Administrative duties include: answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patients' medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.

Describe what medical assistants need to know about medications

Medical assistants perform many administrative duties, including answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patients' medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and book. Medical assistants often take medical histories and record vital signs of patients. Medical assistants complete administrative and clinical tasks in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Their duties vary with the location, specialty, and size of the practice. A medical assistant may also hand patients properly-labeled and pre-packaged prescriptions drugs (excluding controlled substances) that have been ordered by a licensed physician, podiatrist, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife, administering medications or injections into the IV line.

List the natural sources of drugs and give one example of each

Sources of drugs may be natural, synthetic, and biosynthetic. Drugs of plant, animal, microbiological, marine, mineral, geographical origins constitute the natural sources. The entire plant, plant parts, secretion, and exudate of plants are the sources of plant drugs. Ergot, ephedra, and datura are entire plants, Senna leaf and pod, leaf of Digitalis, bark of Chinhona, capsule of Opium, seeds of Nux vomica, rhizome of Ginger function as sources of a number of drugs useful against different diseases; kaolin, diatomite used in filtration of turbid liquids; gums, wax, gelatin, agar used as pharmaceutical auxiliaries; flavoring, sweetening agents; drugs used as vehicles or insecticides are treated in pharmacognosy as excipient. Drugs obtained from animals sources are whole animals, glandular products (thyroid organ), liver extract, polypeptide venoms, non-peptide toxins, etc. Fish liver oil, musk, beeswax, hormones, enzymes, and antitoxins sera are the products obtained from animal sources. A large number of other natural products from animal sources are used as pharmaceutic excipient and others are used as important drugs or as nutritional supplements. Many life-saving drugs are obtained from microbes, e.g., penicillin from Penicillium notatum, chloramphenicol from Streptomyces venezuelace, grisofulvin from Penicillium griseofullivum, neomycin from Streptomyces fradiae, and streptomycin from Streptomyces griseus. Aminoglycosides gentamicin and tobramycin are obtained from Micromonospora sp. and Streptomyces tenebrarius, respectively; xanthan, dextran, curdian, pullulan, emulsan, baker’s yeast glycan, schizophyllan, lentinan, krestin, etc. are microbial products. Coral, sponges, fish, and marine microorganisms produce biologically potent chemicals with interesting anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anticancer activity, e.g., curacin A from marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscule, eleutherobin from coral Eleutherobia sp., discodermolide from marine sponge Discodermia dissoluta, bryostatins from marine animal Bugula neritina, dolostatins from marine gastropod mollusk Dolabella auricularia, and cephalostatinsa bactericidal antibiotics from Cephalosporium acremonium fungus. Drugs from mineral source include both metallic and non-metallic substances like kaolin, chalk, diatomite kiesselgurh, bentonite talc, borax, and many more minerals or their salts are useful pharmacotherapeutic agents against different ailments, e.g., ferrous sulfate in iron deficiency anemia; magnesium sulfate as purgative; magnesium trisilicate, aluminum hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate as antacids; zinc oxide ointment as skin protectant, in wounds and eczema; gold salts (solganal, auranofin) as anti-inflammatory and in rheumatoid arthritis; selenium as anti-dandruff. Radioactive isotopes of iodine, phosphorus, gold, etc. are employed for the diagnosis/treatment of diseases, particularly malignant conditions. Geographical source or habitat gives information about the country or place where the drug is produced, e.g., ginger is produced in Jamaica, Nux vomica and Ispaghula in India. However, the original native place and the present geographical source may be different, e.g., Cinchona. Its native source is South America but it is now grown in Indonesia, India, and Congo. New drug compounds may be obtained from precursor molecules through microbiological conversion (e.g. atropine to tropine and tropic acid by Corynebacterium belladonnae), aberrant synthesis in higher plants (e.g. formation of 5-fluoronicotine from 5-fluoronictinic acid in Nicotianatabacum) as well as through culture of cells (e.g. biotransformation of β-methyldigitoxin to β-methyldigoxin, a 12β-hydroxylation by Digitalis lanata suspension culture, codeinone to codeine by cells of Papaver somniferum) and organs (e.g. tropane alkaloid-producing Solanaceae enhanced alkaloid production in roots when developed from callus culture). Potency, efficacy, and other parameters of natural drugs may be improved by a semi-synthetic process where the chemical structure is altered without any change in the nucleus, e.g., heroine, bromoscopolamine, homatropine, insulin, 6-aminopenicillanic acid derivatives. Drugs are also prepared synthetically, e.g., aspirin, oral anti-diabetics, antihistamines, amphetamine, chloroquine, chlorpromazine, general and local anesthetics; paracetamol, phenytoin, synthetic corticosteroids, sulfonamides and thiazide diuretics are synthetic products. Genetically engineered drugs include hepatitis-B vaccine, recombinant DNA engineered insulin, interferon-α-2a, and interferon-α-2b for hairy cell leukemia.

List two advantages of synthetic medicaitons

Synthetic fibers are more durable than most natural fibers and will readily pick-up different dyes. In addition, many synthetic fibers offer consumer-friendly functions such as stretching, waterproofing and stain resistance. Sunlight, moisture, and oils from human skin cause all fibers to break down and wear away.

Describe the four parts of pharmacokinetics

There are four main components of pharmacokinetics: liberation, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (LADME). These are used to explain the various characteristics of different drugs in the body.

Describe the impact of the blood-brain barrier to the distribution of medication

Transporter-mediated permeation of drugs across the blood-brain barrier. Since the endothelial cells are connected to each other by tight junctions and lack pores and/or fenestrations, compounds must cross the membranes of the cells to enter the brain from the bloodstream. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is formed by brain endothelial cells lining the cerebral microvasculature, and is an important mechanism for protecting the brain from fluctuations in plasma composition, and from circulating agents such as neurotransmitters and xenobiotics capable of disturbing neural function.