Pharmacology II

Code:

MI326

Acronym:

FARM_II

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2019/2020 - 2S (of 10-02-2020 to 31-07-2020)

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Departamento de Biomedicina
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	323	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	3	-	6	56	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

At the end of the course, the student is expected to understand how medicines and poisons act, and how they reach their biological targets. The student is expected to understand the major rules of quantitative pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics relevant to medical treatment and poisoning. This is achieved by the standard syllabus of general pharmacology and of special pharmacology of drugs with multiple systemic actions.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students are expected to acquire the knowledge, skills and competencies on medicines required by medical practice. Firstly, the syllabus contains the general properties of medicines that can be applied to every medicine. Secondly, the syllabus contains the major characteristics of systemically acting medicines which are relevant for the medical profession

Working method

Presencial

Program

The curricular unit has a total workload of 6 ECTS, which corresponds to 56 contact hours per student in agreement with the bylaws of the University of Porto. The contact hours are distributed as follows: fourteen 1-hour lectures, fourteen 2-hours theoritical-practical teaching classes and seven 2-hours semminars. There is one class for the lectures and there are 20 classes for theoretical-practical teaching and semminars.
Pharmacology of main groups of drugs used in therapeutics or can cause disease. Emphasis is on the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic indications, adverse and toxic reactions, precautions and contraindications. The main groups of drugs to be studied are the following: drugs that act at the cardiovascular and renal; drugs that act on hemostasis and hematopoiesis; drugs that act on the central nervous system – antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives, anxiolytics and hypnotics, local and general anesthetics; drugs that act on the digestive system; drugs that act on inflammation and autacoids; immunomodulators; anti-infectious drugs – antimalarial drugs, antifungal drugs e antiparasitic drugs.

Mandatory literature

Brunton, L.L., Hilal-Dandan, R. & Knollmann, B.C.,; Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 13th edition, New York, USA: McGraw-Hill, 2018. ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-25-958474-9;
Katzung, B.G., & Trevor, A.J., ; Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 14th edition, New York, USA: Lange, McGraw-Hill., 2018. ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-259-64115-2
Ritter, J.M., Flower, R.J., Henderson, G., Loke, Y.K. MacEawn D. & Rang, H; Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology, 9th edition., London, UK: Elsevier., 2019. ISBN: ISBN: 9780702074486;
Guimarães, S., Moura, D., & Soares-da-Silva, P.,; Terapêutica medicamentosa e suas bases farmacológicas, 6ª edição, Porto, Portugal: Porto Editora., 2014. ISBN: ISBN: 978-972-0-01794-9;

Teaching methods and learning activities

Blended learning is used (face-to-face complemented with online support). Every opportunity to approach each student personally will be considered. However due to the degrading ratio between students and paid teaching staff, adequate methods for massified learning will be used. Face-to-face learning is done by 14 weekly lectures (1 h each), 14 weekly theoretical-practical classes (2 h, each) of clinical-pharmacological cases and 7 semminars (2 h, each) with clinical vignettes. Every student is given a password to use a complete e-learning plataform on a 24-h basis. TThe assessment is made by a written multiple choice test in accordance with the rules of the American National Board of Medical Examiners, which has a value of 19 values, and a semminar which will add 1 value to the written test.

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	95,00
Participação presencial	5,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	106,00
Frequência das aulas	56,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

According to the pedagogic by-rules of FMUP.

Medical courses have recently been massified. The number of students enroled increased (currently there are 334 students in the course) whereas the number of paid teachers has decreased. Large class teaching and learning methods must be put in place. Standard medication problems are the major activities of tutorials and workshops. Multiple-choice tests are built with variations of those problems. The semminar is performed by grups of estudantes (n=3-4) naaccording pre-definidoed topics in the Pharmacology II programme da Farmacologia II, active participation in 36 hours of face-to-face learning activities reported. Written tests makes correction of large number of tests easy.

Calculation formula of final grade

Scores are expressed on a 0-20 scale. The final passing cut-off is 10. The final exam is a 120-min test with 100 extended-matching and multiple-choice questions designed according to the current recommendations of the American National Board of Medical Examiners. The maximal socre is 19. Active participation in 36 hours of face-to-face learning activities reported on a semminar wich will add 1 value to the written test. The semminar is performed by grups of estudantes (n=3-4) naaccording pre-definidoed topics in the Pharmacology II programme da Farmacologia II. 
If a student receives a total score lower than 10, the student must retest. A score of 10 or above guarantees a pass. Due to formula scoring it is required that 60% of itens are correctly answered to reach the passing cut-off. Evauation is given on cumputer. Due to the scarce number of computers, students are randomly selected to take the test in turns. Equating is carried out by the circle-arch method. If a student receives a score of 10 or more, the student can take an oral examination.