Undergraduate - UnitPHA3021 - Drugs in health and disease

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 0 (NATIONAL PRIORITY), 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Offered	Clayton First semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Associate Professor Robert Widdop

Synopsis

This unit provides an historical overview of the use of drugs, with an emphasis on the principles underlying the safe and effective use of drugs for the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease. The importance of evidence-based drug therapy is highlighted with an introduction to statistical and epidemiological concepts. The pharmacological properties of drug classes used to treat specific respiratory, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders are studied, concentrating on the rationale for their use. Pharmacological approaches to the study of existing and novel compounds will be reinforced in laboratory sessions.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

explain the major principles underlying the therapeutic use of drugs, including the relevance and assessment of evidence-based medicine
apply knowledge of the actions of major drug classes to explain their therapeutic applications and potential adverse affects
demonstrate the ability to work effectively in a team
demonstrate the ability to source, critically evaluate and use literature to construct a scientific argument
demonstrate the ability to present, analyse and interpret data from pharmacological experiments clearly and concisely in written form.