Sex, pharmacology and rock'n'roll.

Well... It wasn't exactly 'pharmacology' that Mick Jagger was preaching, but then again I don't have many things in common with him... And therefore this post will contain absolutely nothing about the very interesting topics of sex and rock and roll, but loads of stuff about the much less interesting topic of the MDII pharmacology module.

Surprisingly, the department of clinical pharmacology is very well organised, has a website that is regularly updated, most of the lectures are very good and the tutorials actually teach you stuff !!! Eat your heart out, Physio&Biochem department :-P

So my first piece of advise would be for you to attend the lectures and tutorials. Not only because they are good, but also because you won't find much in the books about the topics covered in them.

For this reason, I would advise you against buying Rang&Dale and the BNF yet. If you need something to study pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics from, I recommend Katzung. It's a very well written book, and since you only need a couple of chapters off it, you don't really need to buy it (check here for more). For everything else, you'll be getting lecture notes.

My next piece of advise is about the pharmacology project. Don't overlook it, and don't leave it for the last minute. Find as many resources as possible, and don't forget that most of the information required for the project will be on the manufacturer's website. Read about kinetics and dynamics before you start writing, otherwise things will simply not make sense.

And do ask questions if things don't make sense. Make an appointment with Dr.J.Mifsud, take a hard copy of your resources with you, and she will be happy to answer all your questions. But make sure you have done your reading and know your stuff, otherwise you will be asking silly questions and wasting her time, which she doesn't seem to like...

And onto the juicy part of this post... A compilation of the topics covered in past exam papers :

1. Receptors : G-protein-coupled, glycocorticoid, desensitisation, spare, intrinsic activity.
2. Tachyphylaxis.
3. Potency and efficacy + use.
4. Agonists and antagonists + respective diagrams.
5. Pharmacogenetics : prescribing, ethics, genetic variations.
6. Definitions : drug/medicine, ideal drug.
7. Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics : importance in therapeutics.
8. Drug-induced allergic reaction.
9. Pharmacokinetics in children and elderly.
10. Pharmacoeconomic methodologies and comparators.
11. Asthma : metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers and large volume spacers.
12. Controlled release formulations : repeat action tablets and spansules.
13. Same dose to different patient : four reasons for different plasma concentrations.
14. Drug plasma concentration measurement and narrow therapeutic range.
15. Clinical trials : phases and process details, blinding and randomisation.
16. Pharmacokinetic processes and relation to therapeutic outcome.
17. Drug interactions + drug classes susceptible.
18. Bioavailability, bioequivalence.
19. Steady state + graphs, therapeutic range.
20. Value of drug history against adverse reactions.
21. Increasing healthcare cost, prescribing influences.
22. Hepatic function impairment.
23. Drug assay principles.
24. Drug study reliability, NNT, ARR.
25. Drug targeting.
26. LD50, ED50, therapeutic index.

You'll notice that the above questions cover pretty much the whole syllabus, but this is how the paper is : they examine a little bit of everything they've taught us ! But don't worry... Pharmacology is not a hard subject and, traditionally, most of the questions of the June paper are repeated in the September resit paper. So even if you manage to fail in June, there's no way you'll fail in September !