Oftentimes we take an FDA-approved drug to be safe for clinical application. However, there are factors we must understand clearly as these are missed in medical school or overlooked in clinical practice.
Ramsay reported that in Western European countries the time devoted to formal teaching averaged 96 hours for pharmacology and 28 hours for clinical pharmacology – sadly, only 18 hours could be identified as specifically related to therapeutics. The students are seen struggling across the gap towards the real world of medical practice, ill-prepared for the task facing them, and some don’t make it.
This lesson reviews the basic concepts of pharmacological actions and builds a foundation for the lessons that follow.