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) Babini & Bansal, Thieme Test Prep for the USMLE®: Learning Pharmacology through Clinical Cases, 2018. Thieme. ISBN: 9781626234239

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 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.

During the test, the students will be asked to critically analyze the selected 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 in "virtuale.unibo.it".

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INTEGRATED COURSE - Thoracic and Vascular Diseases (14 CFU): the final comprehensive assessment will consist of an oral exam with questions focusing on the learning objectives and topics of the integrated course. In each exam session, for practical and logistic reasons, two subcommittees will be appointed for the same final comprehensive assessment:

• Subcommittee for Module A (Cardiology+Cardiac Surgery+Vascular Surgery+Pharmacology)
• Subcommittee for Module B (Pneumology+Thoracic Surgery+Radiology+Pathology)

After assessment by the two subcommittees, the professors of the integrated course participate in the final collegial assessment, which considers the level of mastery of the key concepts illustrated during the lessons, critical thinking and the ability to integrate the key concepts and take-home messages of the different modules of the integrated course.

Final grades will be assigned according to the following criteria:

• Outstanding 30/30L: full preparation, consolidated and without inaccuracies on the topics covered in the integrated course. Ability to promptly frame the topic. Ability to analyze and connect independently different topics. Concepts in the right succession and full command of the specific language with some original elaboration by the student.
• Excellent 29-30/30: full preparation, consolidated and without significant inaccuracies on the topics covered in the course. Ability to promptly frame the topic. Ability to analyze and connect independently. Concepts in the right succession and full command of the specific language.
• Very good 27-28/30: preparation of very good level, but with significant inaccuracies compromising the achievement of full marks. Ability to analyze and link independently. Exposure of concepts in the right succession and with appropriate language.
• Good 23-26/30: preparation of good level, but with important inaccuracies in the presentation. Ability to analyze and link after input from the teacher. Exposure of concepts in the right succession and with appropriate language.
• Sufficient 18-22/30: knowledge limited to the basic concepts without serious gaps, only after input from the teacher. Exposition of concepts and language acceptable as a whole.
• Insufficient <18/30: lack of preparation. Serious and repeated conceptual errors.

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