There is no section without brief pathophysiology of the diseases in which these drugs are used for. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of action those drugs that were discussed was less difficult to grab. Importantly, the weekly online discussion was a useful tool for me, because it allowed me to research very well on any posted case study. My responses on this forum were based on the guidelines, which are rooted in evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) was defined as “the conscientious use of current best evidence to make decisions about patient care,” or “a lifelong problem-solving approach to how healthcare is delivered that integrates the best evidence from high-quality studies with a clinician’s expertise and a patient’s preferences and values.” (Mazurek Melnyk, Gallagher-Ford, & Fineout-Overholt, 2016). I will utilize the knowledge I gained from this class for my patient in the nearest future. It is important to ask patient about their experience with any drug they are taking. This may give me the idea of efficacy of that drug, as well as side or adverse effects, because failure to do this can result in giving wrong medication to such patient, and medication errors are associated with increased risk of patient morbidity and mortality (Ben-Yehuda et al., 2011; Lesar, …show more content…
As stated above, each medication did go through different clinical trials before it is available on market. However, most of the trials are usually based on homogenous group of people, and whatever data obtained those trials are also used for the general population. To buttress this point, a study conducted by Song et al. (2007) with the purpose: The use of maximum-dose simvastatin or atorvastatin in an ethnically diverse population,” reported that “the Hispanic and Asian populations, the predominant ethnic groups served by Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System (SCVHHS), were not well represented in clinical trials that used maximum-dose simvastatin and atorvastatin.” The consequence of this may be emerging of serious adverse effects, lack of therapeutic response, or medication resistance because of idiosyncratic reaction. At the same time, the use of homogenous population has also brought a good news to the field of pharmacology, especially due to new innovative of pharmacogenomics. For example, it has been identified that hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) works well with the Black people in managing their hypertension (National Guideline Clearinghouse, 2015). The implication for the health care providers is that, it will be easier and highly plausible to make a right clinical judgement by