Pharmacology and the Nursing Process vocabulary Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the nursing process, pharmacologic principles, legal and ethical considerations, and clinical drug effects from Chapters 01 to 58.

Subjective data

Information shared through the spoken word by any reliable source, such as the patient, including reports of symptoms or dietary habits.

Objective data

Information gathered through the senses or that which is seen, heard, felt, or smelled, such as a patient‘s weight, pulse, and laboratory test results.

Bioequivalent

The principle describing two drugs that have the same concentration of the active ingredient and are absorbed into the circulation in the same amount.

Steady state

The physiologic state in which the amount of drug removed via elimination is equal to the amount of drug absorbed from each dose.

Half-life

The time required for one half of an administered dose of a drug to be eliminated by the body, or the time it takes for the blood level of a drug to be reduced by $50\%$.

Duration of action

The time period during which a drug‘s concentration is sufficient to cause a therapeutic response.

Onset of action

The time it takes for a drug to elicit a therapeutic response.

Peak effect

The time it takes for a drug to reach its maximum therapeutic response.

Prodrug

An inactive drug dosage form that is converted to an active metabolite by various biochemical reactions once it is inside the body.

Synergistic effect

The resulting effect of two drugs given together that is greater than the sum of the effects of each drug given alone.

Pharmacologic reaction

A type of adverse drug reaction that is an extension of a drug‘s normal effects in the body, such as an antihypertensive drug lowering blood pressure too much.

Idiosyncratic reaction

An unexpected, genetically determined abnormal response to normal dosages of a drug.

Palliative therapy

Treatment with the goal of making the patient as comfortable as possible, typically used in the end stages of illness.

Maintenance therapy

Drug therapy used for the treatment of chronic illnesses, such as hypertension.

Empiric therapy

Drug administration based on clinical probabilities when a certain pathologic condition has a high likelihood of occurrence based on initial symptoms.

Supplemental therapy

Also known as replacement therapy, this supplies the body with a substance needed to maintain normal function.

Polypharmacy

The simultaneous use of multiple medications, which often occurs when a patient has several illnesses and takes medications for each.

Veracity

The ethical responsibility and duty to tell the truth.

Justice

The ethical principle of being fair or equal in one‘s actions.

Beneficence

The ethical principle of doing or actively promoting good.

Autonomy

The ethical principle of self-determination, or the ability to act on one‘s own and make one‘s own decisions about health care.

Nonmaleficence

The ethical duty to do no harm.

Legend drug

Another term for a prescription drug, as differentiated from over-the-counter drugs by the 1951 Durham-Humphrey Amendment.

Medication error

A preventable adverse drug event involving inappropriate medication use by a patient or health care provider.

Affective domain

The Tangible component of the learning process involving conduct that expresses feelings, needs, beliefs, values, and opinions.

Psychomotor domain

The domain of learning that involves the performance of a physical skill or procedure, such as demonstrating nasal spray administration.

Cognitive domain

The domain of learning that refers to problem-solving abilities and may involve the recall and knowledge of facts.

Positive inotropic effect

An effect that increases myocardial contractility, resulting in an increased force of cardiac contractions.

Positive chronotropic effect

An effect that results in an increased heart rate.

Positive dromotropic effect

An increase in the conduction of cardiac electrical nerve impulses through the atrioventricular node.

Nadir

The lowest level of neutrophils reached after a course of chemotherapy.

Serum sickness

A condition characterized by edema of the face, tongue, and throat, rash, and dyspnea occurring after repeated injections of equine-made immunizing drugs.

Dyskinesia

Difficulty in performing voluntary movements, a finding monitored during drug therapy for Parkinson‘s disease.

Extrapyramidal symptoms

Involuntary motor symptoms that can be a high-incidence adverse effect during therapy with drugs like haloperidol.

Cheese effect

A severe hypertensive crisis caused by the interaction of selegiline (at doses exceeding $10\,mg/day$) with tyramine-containing foods.

Tocolytics

Drugs such as indomethacin that relax uterine smooth muscles to prevent preterm labor between $20$ and $37\,weeks$ of pregnancy.

Red man syndrome

An infusion-related reaction to vancomycin characterized by flushing of the neck and face and a decrease in blood pressure.

Cinchonism

A cluster of symptoms including tinnitus, loss of hearing, or slight blurring of vision that may occur with quinidine sulfate therapy.

Capillary leak syndrome

A condition during interleukin therapy where capillaries lose the ability to retain vital colloids, resulting in massive fluid retention.

Cytokine release syndrome

A severe allergy-like reaction, which can involve anaphylaxis, associated with monoclonal antibodies such as basiliximab.

Malignant hyperthermia

A life-threatening surgical emergency indicated by a sudden elevation in body temperature, tachycardia, tachypnea, and muscle rigidity.