Clinical Pharmacology (clinical skills)

The course aims to provide the student with the knowledge related to the mechanism of action, therapeutic action, adverse reactions and the use of drugs in the treatment and prevention of diseases. To do this the course will provide students with the essential concepts and tools for understanding and knowing:
- the principles of drug interaction with their receptors and their effect at the level of cells, tissues and the body (pharmacodynamics);
- the processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs within the body (pharmacokinetics) and the bases of possible drug interactions;
- the genetic basis (pharmacogenetics) and not of the interindividual variability of drug response;
- the principles of the development of new drugs, clinical trials and pharmacovigilance;
- the main classes of drugs active on the different organs and systems and the main classes of chemotherapeutic drugs.

At the end of the course the student should be able to learn about the therapeutic use of the different classes of drugs based on the knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of their action, the fundamental principles of pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and variability of response in relation to gender, genetic and pathophysiological factors. Furthermore the student should be able to read and interpret the therapeutic schemes paying particular attention to the possible drug interactions and adverse reactions.