Unit information: Pharmacology and Therapeutics in 2014/15

Unit name	Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Unit code	VETS30005
Credit points	0
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Poole
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	vets10100,vets10200,vets10300,vets10400,vest20200,vets20300,vets20400
Co-requisites	VETS30005,VETS30006,VPH,FAS,CAS,PATH
School/department	Bristol Veterinary School
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

Peripheral Nervous System, Central Nervous System, Kidney, Cardiovascular System, Inflammation; Smooth Muscle, Antibacterials, Shock and Fluid Therapy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, Toxicology; Pharmacokinetics, Drugs and the Law.

Aims:

• To establish a core knowledge and understanding of drug action in the body

• To provide a sound scientific basis for the use of drugs in clinical practice

• To integrate the science of pharmacology with the art of medicine

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the 2nd year course students should be able to:

• explain the theory underlying drug-receptor interaction and equations relating to the law of mass action
• explain the mechanisms of absorption, metabolism and excretion of drugs and equations relating to these
• explain the mechanisms of neurotransmitter processing and their interaction with endogenous receptor targets in the autonomic nervous system and neuromuscular junction
• explain the role of monoamine neurotransmitter pathways in the central nervous system, their importance in certain disease states and their pharmacological manipulation in the treatment of some of these disease states such as epilepsy
• explain the role of monomine neurotransmitter pathways in the central nervous system and their pharmacological manipulation in the treatment of affective disorders

At the end of the 3rd year course students should be able to:

• explain the mechanism of action of each of the major groups of drugs
• explain the clinical uses of these drugs and
• explain the major side effects of and contra-indications for these drugs

Teaching Information

Lectures and DSE

Assessment Information

Second Year

The material presented in Year 2 will be examined at the beginning of the 3rd Term in Year 2 in a Written Paper that will comprise Multiple Choice Questions (30 min) and short essay questions (1 hour) Pharmacology DSE – oral presentation assessed by two members of staff. Integrated DSE - two weeks during the summer term. The overall Year 2 mark will comprise MCQ 25%, essays 55% and DSE 20% (10% for each).

Third year

Material delivered in Year 3 (Pharmacology and Therapeutics) will be examined towards the end of the 3rd Term in Year 3. The written examination will comprise MCQ questions (1 hour) and short essay questions (2 hours). The short essay paper will be divided into two sections, (i) Pharmacology and (ii) Therapeutics. Students will be required to answer questions from both sections. Pharmacology DSE (1st Term) – written report assessed by two members of staff Therapeutics DSE (2nd Term) – oral presentation assessed by two members of staff.

Marks from Years 2 & 3 will be combined into an overall Pharmacology mark as follows – Year 2, 20%; Year 3, written paper 60% (MCQ 20%; Essays paper 40%); Year 3 DSE 20%. To pass, students will be required to gain 50% overall with a mark of at least 45% in the Year 3 written paper. Students failing to pass will be required to take a resit written examination in September.

In the Resit Examination Year 2 and Year 3 material will be examined. The examination will comprise MCQ questions (60 min) and short essay questions (2 hour). The short essay paper will be divided into two sections, (i) Pharmacology (Years 2 & 3) and (ii) Therapeutics. Students will be required to answer questions from both sections. The number of questions to be done in each section will reflect the relative amount of material in each part of the course.

Marks will be combined into an overall Pharmacology mark as follows – Written paper 80% (MCQ 25%; Essay paper 55%); Year 2 & 3 DSE 20%. To pass, students will be required to gain 50% overall with a mark of at least 45% in the written paper.

Reading and References

1. Rang, Dale & Ritter, Pharmacology (5th Ed.), Churchill Livingstone
2. This is an essential text for pharmacology. Multiple copies are available in the medical library.
3. Y. Bishop (Ed.), The Veterinary Formulary (6th Ed.), Pharmaceutical Press

A useful reference giving much therapeutic detail on all drugs used in veterinary practice in the UK. Multiple copies are available in the medical library.

More specialised texts are:

1. Small Animal Clinical Pharmacology - by Maddison et al.
2. Veterinary Drugs - by Milne
3. Equine Formulary - by Saunders

(all of these books are in the Medical Sciences Library)