NU 238 - Pharmacology for Nurses

Credit Hours: 3

This course is designed to assist the student nurse in acquiring basic knowledge in the science of drugs. Basic pharmacologic principles are introduced, but the course focus is on application of the knowledge to the provision of client care and education. The course content includes an introduction to pharmacology, including terminology, legislation, and general principles of drug action. Within each drug classification, a drug prototype will be focused on, including action, use, safe dose, side and/or adverse effects, contraindications, drug and food interactions, nursing responsibilities, and patient education.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

define medical terminology related to pharmacology;
define prescription, non-prescription, controlled and recreational drug;
list several sources of relevant drug information available to nurses;
explain the impact of legislation on drug therapy;
explain the five drug properties: purity, bioavailability, potency, efficacy, safety and toxicity;
list the criteria for safe drug administration;
identify proper recording functions of the nurse and/or family;
identify actions of major drug classifications;
name prototypes for each major drug classification;
describe common use of major drugs in each drug classification;
identify major side effects and/or adverse effects of prototypes for each major drug classification;
state contraindications for selected prototypes; and
apply nursing process to drug therapy.

Prerequisites: NU 116, NU 117 or NU 120, NU 128, NU 126, NU 127, NU 236, NU 237
Corequisites: NU 246, NU 247
F/S (C, N)