Pharmacology Final Exam Review topics Winter 2025
For all prototypes listed review: Indications, MOA, pharmacokinetics, adverse effects,
Contraindications, drug-drug interactions
and nursing considerations
Week 1: Chapters 1-3
Review classification of therapeutic agents, basic drug names and drug use during pregnancy.
Review prescription, OTC, controlled substances and teratogenic risk drugs
Review DEA schedules of controlled substances (high abuse to limited abuse potential)
Review pharmacodynamic principles – onset, peak, duration, cellular receptors, lock and key, first pass, peak
and trough
Review pharmacokinetics principles: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME)
Review factors influencing drugs effect – weight, age, sex, physiologic, pathologic, psychologic,
immunologic, environmental, tolerance, accumulation, interactions
Review adverse effects or undesired effects: overdose, allergies, hypersensitivities, dermatologic, GI,
superinfections, blood dyscrasias, hepatoxicity, nephrotoxicity, electrolyte imbalances, CNS, anticholinergic,
EPS, NMS, teratogenicity
Week 2 and 3 Chapters 4-6
Review nursing responsibilities in medication administration and the nursing process
Drug abuse, physical dependence, and the opioid crisis
Chapters 8-14 Anti-infective agents
Review anti-infective, antibiotic, antiseptic, bactericidal, bacteriostatic, peak and trough, prophylaxis, and
superinfection.
Narrow and broad-spectrum antibiotics, guidelines for preventing resistant organisms
Mechanism of actions of antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoal, anthelminthic, & antineoplastic
agents
Administration guidelines for anti-infectives
Preventing resistance to anti-infectives
Prophylaxis treatment for patients undergoing traveling, undergoing procedures and patients with known
cardiac conditions
Antimicrobial agents:
Inhibition or biosynthesis of the cell wall by weakening it
o penicillin (prototype amoxicillin)
o cephalosporins, (prototype cefaclor)
o carbapenems – (prototype ertapenem)
Inhibit protein synthesis – treats gram negative bacteria
o Tetracycline used when penicillin is contraindicated, administer on an empty stomach,
discolors teeth (prototype tetracycline)
o Aminoglycosides (prototype gentamycin) risk for nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity
Antimetabolites – sulfonamides inexpensive effective treatment for UTI, teratogenic (prototype
trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole - bactrim)
Inhibition of protein synthesis – fluroquinolones (prototype ciprofloxacin)
1
, o Most serious adverse effect tendinitis, tendon rupture, peripheral neuropathy, prolonged QT
interval, liver toxicity
Other medication – prototype vancomycin – bactericidal, inhibits wall cell synthesis treatment for c-diff,
MRSA. Nephrotoxic, ototoxic, infusion reaction of redman syndrome (flushing, tachycardia, rash,
hypotension.
Antimycobacterial agents – review tuberculosis
Agents used to treat mycobacteria causing TB and leprosy
- first line drugs used to treat tuberculosis (isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol) orange sweat
Prototype isoniazid
Antivirals – non-living agents that must be inside the cell to replicate and cause infection, surrounded by
capsid making it hardest to kill, mutate rapidly.
Influenza – prevention is vaccination (prototype – oseltamivir)
Herpes, cytomegalovirus – viruses that cause repeated blister-like lesions on skin, genitals, and other
mucosal surfaces (prototype – acyclovir)
Hepatitis A, B, C and modes of transmission (prototype – adefovir))
HIV, pregnancy oral zidovudine given from 14 to 34 weeks gestation
HAART – highly aggressive antiretroviral therapy
Nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI’s)
o Prototype – zidovudine (AZT)
Antifungals
Superficial mycoses - prototype – nystatin for oral candidiasis swish and swallow or swish and spit
for at least 2 minutes
Topical antifungals (prototype – clotrimazole)
Systemic mycoses – prototype Amphotericin B (fungizone) infuse slowly intravenously to avoid CV
collapse, administer acetaminophen pre administration to decrease risk of hypersensitivity,
Immunocompromised pts
Azole antifungals – prototype fluconazole
Antiprotozoals – prototype chloroquine treatment for malaria
- Clients with cinchonism or toxicity may complain of tinnitus, headache, dizziness, nausea, fever,
tremors, visual disturbances
- Other medications inhibit DNA synthesis causing cell death – prototype metronidazole (flagyl)
Anthelminthics – parasitic worm infestation particularly in areas of poor sanitation, strict hygienic measures
are important in eradicating the infection
- Prototype mebendazole (vermox)
Antineoplastics – cancer cells start with a single cell that is genetically different from other cells
Know what metastasis is and causes of cancer
Chemotherapy most effective against rapidly dividing cells, treatment for cancer involves a multi-drug
strategy, Infection risks!
Difficult to kill cancer cells without killing normal cells
Antineoplastic agents: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, antineoplastic antibiotics, mitotic inhibitors,
hormones and hormone modulators, cancer cell specific agents
Prototype – antimetabolite methotrexate
2
For all prototypes listed review: Indications, MOA, pharmacokinetics, adverse effects,
Contraindications, drug-drug interactions
and nursing considerations
Week 1: Chapters 1-3
Review classification of therapeutic agents, basic drug names and drug use during pregnancy.
Review prescription, OTC, controlled substances and teratogenic risk drugs
Review DEA schedules of controlled substances (high abuse to limited abuse potential)
Review pharmacodynamic principles – onset, peak, duration, cellular receptors, lock and key, first pass, peak
and trough
Review pharmacokinetics principles: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME)
Review factors influencing drugs effect – weight, age, sex, physiologic, pathologic, psychologic,
immunologic, environmental, tolerance, accumulation, interactions
Review adverse effects or undesired effects: overdose, allergies, hypersensitivities, dermatologic, GI,
superinfections, blood dyscrasias, hepatoxicity, nephrotoxicity, electrolyte imbalances, CNS, anticholinergic,
EPS, NMS, teratogenicity
Week 2 and 3 Chapters 4-6
Review nursing responsibilities in medication administration and the nursing process
Drug abuse, physical dependence, and the opioid crisis
Chapters 8-14 Anti-infective agents
Review anti-infective, antibiotic, antiseptic, bactericidal, bacteriostatic, peak and trough, prophylaxis, and
superinfection.
Narrow and broad-spectrum antibiotics, guidelines for preventing resistant organisms
Mechanism of actions of antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoal, anthelminthic, & antineoplastic
agents
Administration guidelines for anti-infectives
Preventing resistance to anti-infectives
Prophylaxis treatment for patients undergoing traveling, undergoing procedures and patients with known
cardiac conditions
Antimicrobial agents:
Inhibition or biosynthesis of the cell wall by weakening it
o penicillin (prototype amoxicillin)
o cephalosporins, (prototype cefaclor)
o carbapenems – (prototype ertapenem)
Inhibit protein synthesis – treats gram negative bacteria
o Tetracycline used when penicillin is contraindicated, administer on an empty stomach,
discolors teeth (prototype tetracycline)
o Aminoglycosides (prototype gentamycin) risk for nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity
Antimetabolites – sulfonamides inexpensive effective treatment for UTI, teratogenic (prototype
trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole - bactrim)
Inhibition of protein synthesis – fluroquinolones (prototype ciprofloxacin)
1
, o Most serious adverse effect tendinitis, tendon rupture, peripheral neuropathy, prolonged QT
interval, liver toxicity
Other medication – prototype vancomycin – bactericidal, inhibits wall cell synthesis treatment for c-diff,
MRSA. Nephrotoxic, ototoxic, infusion reaction of redman syndrome (flushing, tachycardia, rash,
hypotension.
Antimycobacterial agents – review tuberculosis
Agents used to treat mycobacteria causing TB and leprosy
- first line drugs used to treat tuberculosis (isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol) orange sweat
Prototype isoniazid
Antivirals – non-living agents that must be inside the cell to replicate and cause infection, surrounded by
capsid making it hardest to kill, mutate rapidly.
Influenza – prevention is vaccination (prototype – oseltamivir)
Herpes, cytomegalovirus – viruses that cause repeated blister-like lesions on skin, genitals, and other
mucosal surfaces (prototype – acyclovir)
Hepatitis A, B, C and modes of transmission (prototype – adefovir))
HIV, pregnancy oral zidovudine given from 14 to 34 weeks gestation
HAART – highly aggressive antiretroviral therapy
Nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI’s)
o Prototype – zidovudine (AZT)
Antifungals
Superficial mycoses - prototype – nystatin for oral candidiasis swish and swallow or swish and spit
for at least 2 minutes
Topical antifungals (prototype – clotrimazole)
Systemic mycoses – prototype Amphotericin B (fungizone) infuse slowly intravenously to avoid CV
collapse, administer acetaminophen pre administration to decrease risk of hypersensitivity,
Immunocompromised pts
Azole antifungals – prototype fluconazole
Antiprotozoals – prototype chloroquine treatment for malaria
- Clients with cinchonism or toxicity may complain of tinnitus, headache, dizziness, nausea, fever,
tremors, visual disturbances
- Other medications inhibit DNA synthesis causing cell death – prototype metronidazole (flagyl)
Anthelminthics – parasitic worm infestation particularly in areas of poor sanitation, strict hygienic measures
are important in eradicating the infection
- Prototype mebendazole (vermox)
Antineoplastics – cancer cells start with a single cell that is genetically different from other cells
Know what metastasis is and causes of cancer
Chemotherapy most effective against rapidly dividing cells, treatment for cancer involves a multi-drug
strategy, Infection risks!
Difficult to kill cancer cells without killing normal cells
Antineoplastic agents: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, antineoplastic antibiotics, mitotic inhibitors,
hormones and hormone modulators, cancer cell specific agents
Prototype – antimetabolite methotrexate
2
