Ann Richards is a qualified nurse and an experienced university lecturer. She has published several other successful titles, including Elsevier’s best selling ‘A Nurse’s Survival Guide to the Ward’.

• INTRODUCTIONSome classes of drugs Common abbreviations used in drug administration Latin abbreviations Routes of administration Units used in drug administration Recognised drug abbreviations Other common abbreviations SOME DEFINITIONS ROUTES OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION Oral administration Intravenous drug administration Drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination Absorption Drug distribution Drug metabolism and elimination Mechanisms of drug action – pharmacodynamics Drug receptors Some drugs affecting adrenergic transmission Drugs and the respiratory tract Bronchodilators Other drugs used in asthma Steroids (glucocorticoids, corticosteroidsCardiovascular drugsNitrates Calcium channel blockers Alpha adrenoreceptor antagonists Potassium channel activators ACE-Inhibitors Angiotensin-II receptor antagonists Drugs affecting cardiac contractility Digoxin Adrenaline Atropine Beta-adrenergic antagonists (beta-blockers) Antiarrhythmic drugs Vaughan Williams classification of antidysrhythmic drugs Examples of drugs used for specific cardiac arrhythmiasLipid-lowering drugs Statins Fibrates NICE guidance to choice of drug treatment for newly diagnosed hypertensionPrevention of CVD Chronic heart failure Antithrombotics Anticoagulants Antiplatelet drugs Thrombolytic agents Diuretics Urinary incontinence Gastrointestinal tract AntiEmetics Analgesics Paracetamol NSDAIDs Opioids Drugs to treat diabetes mellitus The different actions of various types of insulin Oral hypoglycaemic agents and their action Some antibacterial drugs The central nervous system Drugs commonly used to prevent seizures in epilepsy Parkinson’s disease Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia ANTIDEPRESSANTS HYPNOTICS ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS Predisposing factors Examples of ADRs Adverse drug events Some prescribing and administration errors Possible causes of prescribing and administration errors Preventing errors Drug and food interactions Some differentiating features of drug overdose Drugs causing coma Drugs affecting pupil size Drugs causing respiratory features Cardiovascular features Common drug overdoses Useful websites

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