Medicines are what? Their classification by group

Pharmacology is a science that studies the effect of medicinal substances on the human body, methods of obtaining new medicines. Even in Ancient Greece and India, in the tundra and on the southernmost edge of Africa, people tried to find a way to fight the disease. This became, in a sense, their obsession, a dream that they had to strive for.

Pharmacological terminology

Medicinal products are substances or combinations thereof that are used to treat a disease or as a preventive measure.

A medicinal product is a medicine that is ready for use.

There are different forms of medication. This is done for the convenience of the application and the possibility of an individual approach to the treatment of patients. In addition, due to the variety of forms of release, it is possible to deliver the medicine to the body in several ways. This makes it easier to work with patients in the unconscious state, as well as with people who have been injured and burned.

List A and B

All medicines are divided into three groups:

- list A (poisons);

- List B (potent drugs, including analgesics);

- medicines available without a prescription.

Medicines class A and B require special attention, so to obtain them in the pharmacy network you need a special prescription. In addition, you need to know where and how to store these medicines properly. Since they can easily decompose in sunlight or acquire additional toxic properties. And some funds, for example, morphine, are subject to strict reporting. Therefore, each ampoule is given by nurses at the end of the working shift with a record in the corresponding journal. On the register some more medical products are put: antipsychotics, preparations for anesthesia, vaccines.

Recipes

A prescription is a written request of a doctor to a pharmacist or a pharmacist with a request to sell a medicinal product to the patient, indicating the form, dose and method and the frequency of application. The form performs immediately the functions of a medical, legal and monetary document, if the medicines are given to the patient on a preferential basis or without payment.

There is a legislative act that regulates the rules for issuing prescriptions for doctors of different specialties and positions.

The drug is not only a substance that can eliminate the disease or its manifestations, but also poison, so the doctor must correctly indicate the dosage at the time of prescription.

Doses

On the form of the prescription, the amount of medicinal substance in mass or volume units of the decimal system is recorded in Arabic numerals. Whole grams are separated by a comma, for example, 1.0. If the medicine contains drops, then their number is indicated by Roman numerals. Some antibiotics are calculated in international (ME) or biological units (ED).

Medicines are substances that can be in solid, liquid or gaseous form. Liquids and gases in prescriptions are indicated in milliliters, in the case of inhalation the doctor can note only the dose of dry medicine.

At the end of the prescription is a signature and a personal seal of the doctor. In addition, the passport data of the patient, such as last name, initials, age are indicated. The date of the prescription and the period of its validity are mandatory. There are special forms for writing prescriptions for soft drugs, narcotic substances, sleeping pills, antipsychotics and painkillers. They are signed not only by the attending physician, but also by the head physician of the hospital, assures with his seal, and from above puts a round seal of the medical institution.

It is forbidden to prescribe an ether for anesthesia, fentanyl, chloroethane, ketamine and other soporific substances in the dispensary. In most countries, recipes are written in Latin, and only recommendations for admission are written in the language that is understandable to the patient. For narcotic and toxic substances, the validity of the marketing authorization is limited to five days, for medical alcohol - ten, the rest can be purchased within two months from the date of the prescription.

General classification

In modern realities, when there are the most unusual medicines, classification is simply necessary in order to be guided by their diversity. For this, several conditional guides are used:

1. Therapeutic use - groups of drugs are used to treat one disease.
2. Pharmacological action - the effect that the drug produces in the body.
3. Chemical structure.
4. Nosological principle. It is similar to the therapeutic one, only the delimitation is even narrower.

Classification by group

At the dawn of the development of medicine, doctors tried to systematize medicines themselves. Classification as such appeared by the efforts of chemists and pharmacists, compiled on the principle of the point of application. It included such categories:

1. Psychotropic drugs and drugs acting on the central nervous system (tranquilizers, neuroleptics, sedatives, antidepressants, antiepileptic, anti-inflammatory).

2. Medicines acting on the peripheral nervous system (ganglioblokatory, cholinolytics)

3. Local anesthetics.

4. Drugs that change the tone of the vessels.

5. Diuretic and cholagogue agents.

6. Medicines affecting the organs of internal secretion and metabolism.

7. Antibiotics and antiseptics.

8. Antineoplastic medicines.

9. Means for diagnostics (dyes, contrast agents, radionuclides).

This and its similar division helps young doctors to better study the already available medicines. Classification by groups helps to intuitively understand the mechanism of action of a given drug and memorize dosages.

Classification by chemical structure

This feature is most suitable for the classification of antiseptic and antimicrobial agents. Distinguish bactericidal and bacteriostatic medicines. The classification of the chemical structure covers both these groups. The chemical structure of the substance reflects the mechanism of action of the drug and its name.

1. Haloids. At its core have a chemical element of the halogen group: chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine. For example, antimene, chloramine, pantocide, iodoform and others.
2. Oxidizing agents. It is not difficult to guess that their mechanism of action is aimed at the formation of a large amount of free oxygen. These include hydrogen peroxide, hydroperite, crystals of potassium permanganate.
3. Acids. They are used in medicine in large quantities. The most famous of them are salicylic and boric.
4. Alkalis: sodium borate, bicarbonate, ammonia.
5. Aldehydes. The mechanism of action is based on the ability to remove water from tissues, making them more rigid. Representatives - formalin, formidron, lysoform, urotropin, urosal, ethyl alcohol.
6. Heavy metal salts: mercuric ointment, calomel, lapis, collargol, copper sulfate, lead plaster, zinc oxide, Lassar paste, etc.
7. Phenols. Have an irritating and cauterizing effect. The most frequent of them are carbolic acid, lysol.
8. Dyes. Used in diagnostic manipulations and as a local irritant and antibacterial agent. These include methylene blue, diamond greens, fukortsin.
9. Tar and tar, for example, Vishnevsky's balm, Wilkinson's ointment, Ichthyol, paraffin, naphthalene, sulsen. Improve local blood supply of tissues.

Solid medicines

These preparations have the following representatives: tablets, dragees, powders, capsules and granules and other medicaments. Determination of the form of release is not difficult, since it is possible to determine with an unaided eye what exactly is in front of you.

Tablets are obtained by shaping a powder consisting of an active substance and an auxiliary. Usually this is done under the press.

Dragee - this is located layer-by-action and auxiliary substance, pressed around the granule.

Powders have several uses. They can be drunk, sprinkled with wounds, diluted with physiological saline and stabbed intramuscularly or intravenously. Distinguish between nedosirovannye and metered powders, which, in turn, are simple and complex.

Capsules are a gelatinous shell in which there is a liquid, granular, powdery or pasty drug.

Granules are most often found in homeopathic preparations, they look like small particles (not more than half a millimeter in size).

Liquid forms

This method of preparation preparation includes solutions, galenic and novogalenovye preparations, balsams, collodions and other liquid and semi-liquid variants.

Solutions are formed after mixing the drug substance and a solvent, for example water or alcohol.

Galenic preparations consist only of plant extracts obtained by heating.

Infusions and decoctions are prepared from dry plants. Each of them is indicated in the prescription, including the amount of solvent that the pharmacist must use.

Infusion and extract - on the contrary, alcohol-containing liquids. They can be either pure, alcoholic or alcoholic. Novogalenovye drugs differ from conventional, galenic, high degree of purification of raw materials and finished product.

Special forms of medicine

Balsams are oily liquids that have deodorizing and antiseptic properties. Collodion is a solution of nitrocellulose with alcohol and ether in combination one to six. They are used exclusively externally. Creams have a semi-liquid consistency and contain extracts of plants mixed with a base such as glycerin, wax, paraffin, etc. Lemons and syrups are designed to make it easier for children to take medicines. This helps without additional effort to interest a small patient with the treatment process.

Sterile aqueous and oily solutions are suitable for injections. They can be as simple as complicated. When prescribing a prescription, always indicate the dose of the substance and the volume in one ampoule, as well as recommendations, exactly where the drug should be administered.

Soft forms

If fatty or fat-like substances are used as the basis, then soft medicines are obtained. Definition, classification, the process of manufacturing these - all these issues are perfectly studied by chemists and pharmacists, the doctor must know only the dose and indications for the appointment.

So, ointments should contain not less than twenty five percent of dry matter. A suitable consistency can be achieved by mixing the powders with animal fat, wax, vegetable oils, petroleum jelly or polyethylene glycol. The same criteria apply to pastes, but they must be more viscous. Liniments, on the contrary, should be more liquid, and before use they must be shaken, so that the settled powder is evenly distributed inside the solvent. Candles or suppositories have a solid form, but upon ingestion they quickly melt and become liquid. Plasters are also solid at room temperature, but on the skin they melt and stick, forming a tight contact.

Medicinal products are substances of a predominantly vegetable origin that have been chemically or physically treated so that the patient's body can better absorb them.