NUR 203A - Advanced Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics

Semester Hours: 1.5

This is the first of two courses that span over two semesters and is designed to prepare the advanced practice nurse with a well-grounded understanding of basic pharmacologic principles, including, but not limited to, the cellular responses, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of broad categories of pharmacologic agents, specifically for immunology, cardiac, pulmonary, introduction to endocrine, gastroenterology, renal, and antimicrobials.

The advanced practice nurse will develop a robust knowledge of the indications, contraindications, precautions, adverse effects, complications, doses, routes of administration, and available formulations for the most commonly prescribed pharmacotherapeutics. The course implements a system-based approach in an interprofessional learning environment incorporating a holistic, scientifically sound, and patient-centered care process of learning.

The one three-credit course extending across two semesters is designed to prepare students with a comprehensive scientific foundation of the principles and concepts supporting the safe, effective, evidence-based prescription of pharmacotherapeutics. In the first half of the course, students develop an understanding and appreciation of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for broad overarching classes and subcategories of drugs. In particular, the course facilitates student formation of conceptual frameworks linking drug classes and subcategories with corresponding mechanisms of action. The interrelationships between drug mechanisms of action, the effects of drugs on normal physiology, and the pathophysiological processes of disease are highlighted and emphasized.

In the second half of the course, students integrate knowledge from semester one with newer concepts: how information derived from the history and physical examination impacts drug selection decisions and the overall formulation of the plan of care. Multiple innovative learning methodologies scaffold and align the course with the other components of pathophysiology as well as advanced health assessment. This allows students to directly correlate the scientific basis for using pharmacotherapeutics (to restore homeostasis and health) as they consider the pathophysiologic processes causing disease.

In small group facilitations (e.g., PEARLS), students directly apply such knowledge to formulate preventative and therapeutic management plans based on hypotheses and differential diagnoses derived from clinical data. This provides a context to discuss the ethical, legal, psychosocial, health literacy, cultural literacy, and socioeconomic issues relevant to the use of pharmacotherapeutics.

Formative and summative learner assessments will be conducted throughout the course.

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Fall 2025

January 2026

Spring 2026