Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 6 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A parent will give a liquid medicine to a child at home. Which advice is safest?
A patient who uses insulin is taught sick-day rules. Which statement shows a need for further teaching?
A child weighing 33 kg is prescribed 2 mg/kg of a drug. The stock solution contains 10 mg/mL. Draw up the dose: what volume V do you give?
The prescription is 8600 units of a drug that comes as 10000 units/mL. Draw up the dose in the 1 mL syringe: what volume V do you give?
Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A 59 kg patient is to be loaded intravenously with phenytoin sodium to reach a phenytoin level of 15 mg/L. The volume of distribution is 0.7 L/kg and the salt factor is S = 0.92. Find the loading dose LD of phenytoin sodium in mg.
Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A patient's gentamicin half-life is 3 h. The target is a peak of 8 mg/L and a trough of 1 mg/L. Assuming rapid IV doses and first-order elimination, what dosing interval τ lets the level fall from the peak to the trough? Round to one decimal place.
Answer: A · Use the oral syringe or measuring cup supplied with it
Kitchen spoons are inaccurate and can cause under- or overdosing. Oral syringes in millilitres are the most accurate, and mixing doses into a whole bottle risks the child not getting the full dose.
Answer: D · "If I am ill and not eating, I will stop my insulin completely."
Stress hormones during illness often raise glucose, so basal insulin is usually continued and doses may need adjusting. Stopping insulin in type 1 diabetes can lead to ketoacidosis.
Answer: V = 6.6 mL
Drawing up a dose: volume = (prescribed dose/stock strength) × stock volume. Convert to the same units first, then check that the volume fits the syringe and lands on one of its graduations.
On this 10 mL syringe every small line is 0.2 mL.
Answer: V = 0.86 mL
Drawing up a dose: volume = (prescribed dose/stock strength) × stock volume. Convert to the same units first, then check that the volume fits the syringe and lands on one of its graduations.
On this 1 mL syringe every small line is 0.01 mL.
Answer: LD = 673.4 mg
Clearance and volume: at steady state the dosing rate equals the elimination rate, so the maintenance rate = CL × Css. A loading dose is LD = Vd × C/(S × F), with S the salt factor (fraction of active drug in the salt) and F the bioavailability (1 for IV). From two levels, k = ln(C₁/C₂)/Δt; for an IV bolus Vd = dose/C₀ and CL = k × Vd. The numbers are for practice only; at the bedside always follow local protocols and have high-risk doses double-checked.
In practice the dose is rounded to a convenient amount.
Answer: τ = 9 h
Designing a regimen: with rapid IV doses the level falls from peak to trough during the interval, so τ = ln(Cpeak/Ctrough)/k and the dose that restores the peak is Vd × (Cpeak − Ctrough). The average steady-state level is Css,avg = S·F·dose/(CL·τ). An infusion rises as C = (R/CL)(1 − e−kt). For a drug cleared by the kidneys, the dose is scaled with the creatinine clearance. The numbers are for practice only; at the bedside always follow local protocols and have high-risk doses double-checked.
In practice the interval is rounded to a convenient value such as 8, 12, 24 or 36 h, and the levels are checked again.
ExamProblems · examproblems.com/courses/pharmacology