Introducing Pharmacology: For Nursing and Healthcare 3rd Edition

You are probably reading this book because you have enrolled on a course of studies leading to a recognised clinical qualification such as Registered Nurse (RN) or Registered Midwife (RM). Alternatively, you may already be a registered practitioner but are returning to study in order to gain additional qualifications such as Nurse Independent Prescriber or Specialist Practitioner. Whatever your reason for studying the subject, you will find an understanding of pharmacology to be invaluable in your clinical practice. Therapeutic drugs are widely prescribed to patients in most branches of medicine and it is unlikely that any clinical practitioner will be working in an area where patients have not been prescribed some form of medication.

If you are going to be looking after patients who have been prescribed drugs, you need to understand the mechanism whereby those drugs work. For the patient, it will be sufficient to know that an analgesic drug relieves their pain or an anxiolytic drug relieves their anxiety but you, as a clinical practitioner, need to understand the action of these drugs at a much deeper level. You may have had the responsibility for the administration of a drug to a patient or perhaps you are looking after a patient who has been administered a drug by a clinical colleague. In either case, it is you who will be responsible for monitoring the patient’s response to the drug and not only must you ensure that the drug is working but also (and equally importantly) whether the drug is causing any unwanted side-effects. To do this effectively it is essential that you understand the drug’s mechanism of action – how it produces its therapeutic effect. Increasingly, many non-medical practitioners, nurses, midwives, etc., are trained and licensed to prescribe independently and for them a good understanding of pharmacology is absolutely essential.

Introducing Pharmacology has been specially written for the reader without a background in physiology, pathology and pharmacology. In its 12 chapters, Introducing Pharmacology focuses on the most commonly prescribed drugs and explains their action relative to the physiology and pathology of the system concerned. Naturally, as you progress in your studies you will need to refer to more advanced textbooks and journals and the third edition of this book now helps bridge the gap with some more advanced material in its new ‘beyond the basics’ feature.

Introducing Pharmacology is divided into two parts.

Part 1 looks at the fundamentals of pharmacology, taking you down among the cells to the protein structures targeted by drugs. We also look at how the body processes and eliminates the drugs that have been administered. This will help you understand why some drugs can be given in tablet form while others must be injected or delivered via an intravenous (IV) line. Drugs can relieve symptoms and cure disease but they can also cause side-effects so we examine this downside of medication. Drugs also have the potential to interact with other drugs and even some foods. Part 1 explores how this happens and the consequences of these interactions.

Part 2 examines how individual drugs produce their therapeutic (and sometimes unwanted) effects on the body. Each chapter is devoted to a particular organ system – circulatory, respiratory, digestive, etc. The chapters follow a regular format. Firstly, we examine the basic anatomy and physiology of the organ system. Secondly, we look at key pathologies affecting that system, for example asthma in the respiratory system and high blood pressure in the circulatory system. Finally, when you are sure you understand the physiology and pathology, we then examine the key drugs used to treat those pathologies.

As Introducing Pharmacology is an introductory book, it covers primarily those drugs that you will encounter regularly in general clinical practice. Some drugs are rarely found outside specialist areas and to keep the book to its remit of introducing pharmacology, these drugs have been touched on only lightly or even omitted. However, all drugs have similarities in their modes of action so by gaining an understanding of the basic principles of pharmacology, you should have the knowledge necessary to access more advanced publications dealing with these specialist drugs.

As you read each chapter, you will find a few special features that will help keep you involved in the learning process and also ensure you have understood what you have just read.