HSS 3106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Migraine, Xanthine, Ciclosporin

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: HSS 3106
• Professor: Ron Saulnier

Document Summary

Lecture 11: drug adverse effects and drug interaction. Every drug has the potential to do harm as well as good. When doctors consider prescribing a drug, they must weigh the possible risks against the expected benefits. Use of a drug is not justified unless the expected benefits outweigh the possible risks. Doctors must also consider the likely outcome of withholding the drug. Potential benefits and risks can never be determined with mathematical precision. There are many factors that affect drug response. An adverse effect is an unwanted and possibly dangerous effect that occurs with medical treatment of a single drug. The term is often interchanged with side effect , but not all side effects are adverse (ex. The main differentiation between side effects and adverse effects is that side effects encompass all effects of a drug or treatment, dangerous or not, while adverse effects only refer to those effects that are unwanted or potentially harmful.