CPH-4020

Learning Objectives

1. To review the pharmacology of drugs used in anaesthesia and analgesia,

2. To expose the students to the various neurophysiological processes involved in addiction, depression and anxiolysis.  To discuss the latest developments on the various pharmacological classes used to treat and control these processes including drugs of abuse, antidepressants, neuroleptics and sedative-hypnotics

3. Clinical concepts in the application of PK/PD in optimising regimens for the individual patient

4. Computer aided learning sessions (PCAL) and problem based learning interactive sessions for the clinical applications of basic pharmacological principles.

This study unit will allow the students to provide a framework for the evaluation and interpretation of reports and medical literature, and the application of these principles to the selection of effective drug therapy, with the translation of pharmacological effect into an appropriate therapeutic effect. This unit will also provide the necessary tools, using evidence based medicine and problem based learning, for the students to correctly analyse the appropriate applications of any novel drugs, as they are introduced in clinical practice. 

Content

• Drugs of abuse and addiction; drug administration, absorption and metabolism; tolerance, withdrawal and dependence; behavioural effects of psychoactive drugs

• Drug action: CNS depressants, stimulants, tricyclic antidepressants, hallucinogens, narcotics, volatile solvents, cannabis derivatives, designer drugs

• Animal research: reward pathway; treatment strategies

• Affective disorders; depression and bipolar disorders

• Monoamine hypothesis of depression; animal models of depression

• Antidepressant drugs: MAOIs, TCAs, SSRIs, novel drugs

• Other therapies: ECT, lithium

• Neuroleptics and schizophrenia

• Sedative hypnotics and anxiolytic drugs

• Barbiturates: mode of action, abuse, toxicity, tolerance and dependence

• Benzodiazepines: structure, mode of action, receptors clinical use

• Serotonergic drugs: 5HT receptor ligands

• General anaesthetics: mode of action, classification, pharmacokinetics and side effects

• Inhaled and injectable general anaesthetics

• Local anaesthetics: mode of action at cellular level, receptor modulation, classification, pharmacokinetics and side effects

• Opioid analgesics: mode of action at cellular level, receptor modulation, classification, pharmacokinetics, side effects, tolerance

• Interpatient variation in clinical pharmacokinetic and population kinetics

• Therapeutic drug monitoring and computer software in clinical pharmacokinetics

• Stereoselectivity in pharmacokinetics

• PK/PD in clinical applications and in drug development and variable drugs

• PCAL Computer added packages:

• Recombinant DNA Technology in clinical drug development

• Clinical application of choice of analgesics (NSAIDS, opioids, non opioids)

• Clinical applications of drugs used in chronic respiratory and neurological disorders

• Analytical pharmacology and the interpretation of chromatographic data in clinical setting

• Clinical applications of drugs used in cardiovascular disorders and hypertension

• Problem based learning in clinical gastropharmacology, oncology and endocrine therapy

Type
Lectures, seminars, assignments and a final integrated and synoptic examination

Assessment
In the continuous and final mode: i.e. continuous assessments and a final integrated and synoptic examination at the end of the fourth year.
 

Result
Percentage mark and grade
 

Lecturers
Dr. Doriette Soler
Dr Janet Mifsud
Professor R Ellul-Micallef
Professor FF Fenech
Dr Anthony Fenech