Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology I

Code:

MI442

Acronym:

TFC1

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2023/2024 - 1S

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	133	Plano Oficial 2021	4	-	3	28	81

Teaching language

Portuguese and english

Objectives

To promote a critical understanding of medicines, from discovery to assessment and rational use.

This approach will both facilitate the acquisition and application of rules underlying the rational selection and prescription of drugs, as well as understanding the role of medical doctors in clinical pharmacology units, in regulatory agencies, in the pharmaceutical industry and in contract research organizations.

Therapeutics has an essentially formative background, aimed at the acquisition of skills to allow the correct use of drugs and also the practice of pedagogical interventions in health education. It is well known that patients´ education, and their relationship with therapeutics, has important outcomes in the improvement of compliance.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of this course unit the student should:

1. Know the general principles of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics;

2. Be familiar with clinical pharmacology terminology;

3. Have developed observational skills;

4. Know the main therapeutic groups;

5. Have acquired a knowledge base that can be used in the various fields of therapeutics and applied later in other course units and in future clinical experience.

Students should also acquire the following competencies:
 
1. Problem-solving skills and practical application of knowledge;

2. Self-learning skills;

3. Critical reasoning;

4. Practical ability to evaluate therapeutic choices;
 
5. Identification of clinical pharmacology problems in selected clinical cases.

 

In order to provide students with the aforementioned skills and knowledge, this course unit will apply an integrated approach.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Knowledge of Medical Pharmacology that allow the development of clinical rationing with pharmacological therapeutic options.

Program

General concepts; medicines and development of new drugs, information sources; clinical pharmacology and clinical trials; pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics; pharmacoepidemiology; quality of evidence; pharmacoeconomics and evaluation of clinical outcomes.

Pain and inflammation therapy;

General bases of immunomodulatory therapy; therapy of immune-mediated diseases.

Therapeutics of diseases of the central nervous system; epilepsy therapy; dementia therapy; Parkinson's disease therapy.

Therapy of cardiovascular diseases and endocrine and metabolism diseases: treatment of arterial hypertension; heart failure therapy; stable coronary disease therapy; therapy and prophylaxis of thromboembolic events; diabetes mellitus therapy; dyslipidemia therapy.

Therapeutics of lung diseases; asthma therapy; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; cystic fibrosis therapy.

Therapeutics of ophthalmic diseases: therapeutic approach to red eye; 
glaucoma therapy.

Therapy of skin infections and sexually transmitted diseases;
treatment of psoriasis and atopic eczema.

Therapy in special populations; the elderly;  the terminally ill.

General rules in drug therapy; drug interactions; adverse drug reactions and pharmacovigilance; treatment of acute intoxications.

Specific themes:

Development of new drugs

Design of clinical trials

Quality of scientific evidence

Evaluation of clinical outcomes

Therapy of hypertension and heart failure

Stable coronary disease therapy

Therapy and prophylaxis of thromboembolic events

Cardiovascular polypharmacy

Diabetes mellitus therapy

Dyslipidemia therapy

Pain and inflammation therapy

Therapy of immunomediated diseases

Asthma therapy

Therapy of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; cystic fibrosis therapy

Epilepsy therapy

Parkinson's disease therapy

Dementia therapy

Therapy of skin infections and sexually transmitted diseases

Psoriasis therapy and atopic eczema

Red eye therapy

Glaucoma therapy

Mandatory literature

Brunton, L.L., Hilal-Dandan, R. & Knollmann, B.C.; Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-25-958474-9

Complementary Bibliography

Katzung, B.G., & Trevor, A.J; Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. 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, 2019. ISBN: 9780702074486
Guimarães, S., Moura, D., & Soares-da-Silva, P; Terapêutica medicamentosa e suas bases farmacológicas. ISBN: 978-972-0-01794-9

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching is based in theoretical  and theoretical-practical classes.

The theoretical-practical classes involve prescription training accordingly to clinical cases and group discussion. Assessment is based on the acquisition of knowledge and decision-making skills.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	50,00
Exame	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	28,00
Estudo autónomo	53,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

It is mandatory to attend at least 75% of the planned teaching activities, with the exception of theoretical classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final classification will be done with 50% weighting in the distributed assessment (AD) and 50% weighting in a written test (PE).



The classification for the distributed assessment is made taking into account:

a) Attendance

b) Active participation and individual resolution of clinical vignettes with a therapeutic plan in all theoretical-practical classes.



The written test has a maximum score of 20 values ​​and a minimum value of 10 values ​​is required to be included in the final weighting.



Final classification = (AD+EF)/2

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

According to the FMUP Pedagogical Regulation.

Classification improvement

Students can take an exam for classification improvement (at the time and dates according to the rules defined in the fmup pedagogical regulation). In these circumstances the final exam score is considered as final grade (the distributed evaluation is no longer considered).