VERB1400 Pharmacology and Medicine Administration Course description

This course deals with basic pharmacology. Medication handling, administration and calculation are important duties for social educators. Medication handling and patient safety are taught in accordance with applicable legislation and guidelines. The importance of being accurate when dealing with medicines is also covered. The effects and side effects of medicines as well as drug interactions are key aspects of the course.

The course is taught over 5 weeks.

The student must have been admitted to the programme.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can explain different forms of medication, routes of administration, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
• can explain drug interactions and side effects of medication
• can describe different reasons for variations in response to medication
• can explain medicine administration in accordance with procedures
• can explain relevant laws and regulations within medication handling
• can explain the risk of addiction and drug abuse
• has knowledge of generic substitution

Skills

The student

• can demonstrate medicine administration in accordance with the applicable procedure and regulation, including single and double checking
• can perform calculations of dose, concentration (strength), volume (amount), infusion/injection rate and dilution
• can use the Norwegian Pharmaceutical Product Compendium (Felleskatalogen) and The Norwegian Drug? Medicines Manual for Health Personnel (Legemiddelhåndboka)

General competence

The student

• can document the effects and side effects of medication and use reporting procedures for non-conformities and side effects
• can plan, carry out and document drug medicine administration in accordance with applicable regulations

The teaching and learning methods include lectures with calculation assignments and self-study.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• 100% attendance in supervised group work in pharmacology and medication handling in groups of six students

Individual written examination with invigilation (drug calculation), 3 hours

Calculator handed out by OsloMet

Pass/fail. The student must score 100% to pass the exam.

An external programme supervisor contributes to the preparation of the question papers and assessment criteria. Each answer paper is quality assured by an internal examiner and automatically assessed.

1 credit overlap with VERNLEG