84453 - Cardiovascular and Respiratory Pharmacology

Learning outcomes

Describe the classification, mechanism of action, indications, and side effects of drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular and thoracic diseases.

Course contents

Drugs used in cardiovascular diseases:

• Drugs used in angina and other ischemic heart diseases: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Antihypertensive agents: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Drugs used in the management of heart failure: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Drugs used in the management of hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Drugs used in the treatment of clotting disorders: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Antiarrhythmics: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Antianemic agents: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription

Drugs used in thoracic diseases:

• Drugs used in the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription
• Drugs used to treat cough: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and side effects; risk/benefit evaluation and prescription.

Readings/Bibliography

Students can find free and subscription-only teaching material here.

The collection includes some free eLearning sessions for medical students preparing to sit the Prescribing Safety Assessment in the UK.

Suggested texbooks:

1) Hitchings, Lonsdale, Burrage, Baker. The top 100 drugs. Clinical pharmacology and practical prescribing. 2nd Edition, 2019, Elsevier (Paperback ISBN: 9780702074424 eBook ISBN: 9780702074400eBook ISBN: 9780702074417)

2) Waller and Sampson, Medical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 5th Edition. 2018. Elsevier (or previous Editions).

3) Goodman and Gilman’s Manual of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2nd Edition. 2014. The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Teaching methods

Interactive lectures where general rules are derived from practical examples taken from everyday experience. Teaching materials and slides are made available to the students via the moodle platform at least the day before the lesson. During the lessons, it is important for students to have direct access (online or off-line) to the teaching materials in order to be able to concentrate on specific contents rather than on reproducing slides.

Attending lessons plays an important role in the learning process. During lessons, the teacher guides the students in the critical reading of the teaching materials and provides opportunities for online formative assessment.

La final test takes also into account the level of critical thinking achieved by the student while illustrating the extracted topic (see below).

Attendance to learning activities is mandatory; the minimum attendance requirement to be admitted to the final exam is 60% of lessons. For Integrated Courses (IC), the 60% attendance requirement refers to the total amount of I.C. lessons. Students who fail to meet the minimum attendance requirement will not be admitted to the final exam of the course and will have to attend relevant classes again during the next academic year.

Professors may authorise excused absences upon receipt of proper justifying documentation, in case of illness or serious reasons. Excused absences do not count against a student’s attendance record to determine their minimum attendance requirement.

Assessment methods

Module - Cardiovascular and Respiratory Pharmacology

Because of the practical nature of this module, its final summative test will consist of an oral, critical discussion by the student of one official summary of the product characteristics (SPC) randomly selected from a pre-defined list. This text will be available to the students during the test (“open-book” test). Sitting for this preliminary test (with a pass/fail outcome and no marks) is a prerequisite to sit for the exam of the integrated course.

During the preliminary test, the students will be asked to critically read the extracted SPC to show that they can identify key aspects (especially pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, clinical indications and side effects) and associate these aspects with relevant clinical scenarios, according to the guide provided during the lessons.

The list of SPCs used for the final summative test is made available to the students at the beginning of the course.
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INTEGRATED COURSE - Thoracic and Vascular Diseases

The final exam/final summative assessment will be an oral exam/assessment consisting of questions focusing on the educational objectives and topics of the integrated course of Thoracic and Vascular Diseases (I.C.)

Professors of the integrated courses participate in an overall collegial assessment of the student's final profit. The final summative assessment is expressed with a scale of grades from 18 to 30.

• The final assessment (final summative assessment) is passed with a collegial grade of a minimum 18/30
• Honors (cum laude) can be awarded in case of a final maximum collegial assessment (30/30)
• The credits of the Integrated Course of Thoracic and Vascular Diseases (14 CFU) are awarded with a collegial grade of a minimum 18/30

If it is necessary to appoint several subcommittees for the same final summative assessment, the student has the right to ask, in advance, not later than the beginning of the assessment, to be assessed also by the professor responsible of the discipline

The final summative assessment takes also into account the level of mastery of the key concepts illustrated in the classroom, critical thinking and the ability to integrate the key concepts and take-home messages of the different modules of the integrated course.

Failure to pass the exam may be due to insufficient knowledge of these concepts.

Teaching tools

Students are encouraged to attend the lectures with a printout of the relevant file downloaded from moodle or bringing electronic devices to access the relevant material during the lecture. This will allow easier interaction with the teacher when asked to discuss a problem.

Also e-learning material (including scientific literature and self-assessment tools) will be provided.

Office hours

See the website of Fabrizio De Ponti