Handbook

The aim of the course is to provide vision science and clinical optometry students with a strong knowledge base in pharmacology and therapeutics that will benefit them in their future career. This will be achieved by providing the essential knowledge of the basic principles of pharmacology with an emphasis on drug action from the molecular and cellular levels to tissue, organ and whole organism levels. The course will provide an understanding of the principles of drug action (pharmacodynamics) in terms of, drug-receptor interaction, receptor theory and dose-response relationships. An introduction to receptor-mediated signal transduction, membrane receptors and autonomic pharmacology will be covered. The handling of drugs by the body through the processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (pharmacokinetics) will be covered in some detail along with drug analysis and the adverse effects of drugs. In addition, the pharmacology of different drug classes that target the major organ systems will be explored.