The concurrent use of many medications, common in older adults with several chronic conditions, is called polypharmacy.
Missing Word
polypharmacy
Polypharmacy is the use of multiple medications by one client. It raises the risk of drug interactions and adverse reactions, especially in older adults who see several providers.
Category: Special Populations
Question 2
The list of drugs that a health insurance plan covers is called the plan's formulary.
Missing Word
formulary
A formulary is a plan's list of covered drugs, chosen to provide good care with cost-effective medications. A drug left off the formulary may cost the client more or require switching to a covered alternative.
Category: Socioeconomic Factors
Question 3
A deductible is the amount a client must pay out of pocket before the insurance plan begins paying for medications.
Missing Word
deductible
A deductible is the out-of-pocket amount a client pays before coverage begins. High deductibles can make clients delay or skip filling prescriptions, a cost barrier nurses should ask about.
Category: Socioeconomic Factors
Question 4
A drug known to cause structural defects in a developing embryo or fetus is classified as a teratogen.
Missing Word
teratogen
A teratogen is an agent that causes harm through embryonic or fetal development. A teratogen does not harm every exposed fetus, and a lack of data does not prove a drug is safe in pregnancy.
Category: Special Populations
Question 5
In the classification approach used to teach pharmacology, the representative drug of a class, to which all other class members are compared, is the prototype.
Missing Word
prototype
A prototype is the drug chosen to represent its class, such as propranolol for beta-adrenergic blockers or metoprolol for beta-1 selective blockers. Learning the prototype lets a nurse predict the mechanism, side effects and safety concerns of other drugs in the class.
Category: Drug Classification
Question 6
A biosimilar is a product shown to be highly similar to an already approved biologic, with no meaningful clinical differences, and is usually less expensive.
Missing Word
biosimilar
A biosimilar can be produced once the reference biologic's patent expires. Because biologics are large molecules made by living cells, the maker must show close similarity rather than the bioequivalence required of a generic.
Category: Drug Names and Sources
Question 7
In the 1950s and 1960s, the sedative thalidomide, given to pregnant clients for morning sickness, caused severe limb defects in infants.
Missing Word
thalidomide
Thalidomide caused limb malformations and other birth defects in many infants exposed before birth. The tragedy led to tighter FDA control of drug testing in the United States.
Category: Regulation and History
Question 8
The field that analyzes the costs of drug therapy to health systems and society, along with the consequences of those therapies, is pharmacoeconomics.
Missing Word
pharmacoeconomics
Pharmacoeconomics weighs what drug therapy costs against what it achieves. It informs decisions such as which drugs a formulary includes.
Category: Socioeconomic Factors
Question 9
Frederick Banting and Charles Best are credited with preparing the first therapeutic insulin, a pancreatic hormone used to treat diabetes mellitus.
Missing Word
insulin
Insulin is the pancreatic hormone that lowers blood glucose, and Banting and Best's preparation made diabetes mellitus a treatable disease. Earlier work by von Mering and Minkowski had linked diabetes to the pancreas.
Category: Regulation and History
Question 10
The American Geriatrics Society publishes the Beers Criteria, a list of medications that are potentially inappropriate for older adults.
Missing Word
Beers
The Beers Criteria identify drugs whose risks often outweigh their benefits in older adults, such as some sedatives that raise fall risk. Nurses use them to flag medications for review.
Category: Special Populations
Question 11
In the early 1800s, the pain reliever morphine was isolated from opium, the dried latex of the poppy plant.
Missing Word
opium
Opium is the dried latex of the opium poppy and had been used for pain for thousands of years. Isolating morphine from it was an early example of chemists purifying an active compound from a natural source.
Category: Regulation and History
Question 12
Routes classified as parenteral deliver a drug by a path that bypasses the gastrointestinal tract, such as intravenous or intramuscular injection.
Missing Word
parenteral
Parenteral routes deliver drugs outside the GI tract, so the drug skips stomach absorption and first-pass metabolism in the liver. They act quickly and are useful when a client is vomiting or needs rapid effect.
Category: Routes and Forms
Question 13
Nurses and consumers can report serious adverse events or suspected counterfeit drugs to the FDA through its MedWatch program.
Missing Word
MedWatch
MedWatch is the FDA's safety reporting program for adverse events, product problems and suspected counterfeit drugs. These reports help the FDA detect problems after a drug reaches the market.
Category: Drug Development
Question 14
In 1928, Alexander Fleming observed that a mold stopped the growth of nearby Staphylococcus bacteria, a discovery that led to the antibiotic penicillin.
Missing Word
penicillin
Penicillin grew out of Fleming's observation that Penicillium notatum inhibited Staphylococcus aureus, and it began the antibiotic era, making diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and syphilis treatable.
Category: Regulation and History
Question 15
A contraindication is a condition or factor that makes a particular drug inadvisable for a specific client.
Missing Word
contraindication
A contraindication is a reason to avoid a drug in a particular client, such as an allergy, pregnancy or organ impairment. Nurses identify contraindications during the assessment before administering any drug.
Category: Drug Classification