• The dosage of medication needed for a therapeutic effect can vary with age, weight, gender, health status and environmental factors.
• Most drugs produce a mixture of therapeutic and adverse effects.
• Medications require a written order from a physician or a nurse practitioner legally permitted to prescribe them.
• Because most drugs are metabolized in the liver, it is especially susceptible to drug induced injury.
• The nurse is responsible to judge independently before giving a prescribed medication.
• The route of administration will be chosen to achieve a certain therapeutic action, at a certain speed.
• Medications interact with foods, and that interaction can block or slow therapeutic action
• People metabolize medications differently, depending on age, gender, body size, health status, drug tolerance, cumulative effect of medication, and genetics.
• Inhalers are most effective when their users know the right technique. Teach the technique and then test how well the client uses it.
• Medications are especially likely to cause hypotension in elderly people.
• There are two types of drug dependence: psychic and physical. Psychic dependence implies a craving to use the drug periodically. Physical dependence implies physical symptoms when the drug is withheld.
