Glossary of Pharmacology 

Therapeutics

Therapeutics is the use of treatment to cure or control a disorder.  The word Therapeutics is derived from the Greek Therapeia (healing) and Latin Therapia.  Therapeutics refers to a broad range of possible treatments, including drug treatment (pharmacotherapy), surgical treatments, the use of physical modalities (physiotherapy) and counselling (psychotherapy).

Therapeutics is at the core of what health care providers do – relieve suffering and cure or control disease.  As stated by Hippocrates, “Ασκείν περί τα νοσήματα δύο, ωφελείν ή μη βλάπτειν” (As to diseases, make a habit of two things, to help, or at least, to do no harm).  Thus rationale therapeutics – ideally based on evidence – is a key element in health care and the use of rationale therapeutics is a skill that must be taught and then practiced.   Therapy is very common and drug therapy is a commonly used therapy.  One example is this graph showing the percentage of people who used a prescription medication with the last month (Canadian Health Information Measures Survey).

Examples of Pharmacotherapies: 

Disorder	Drug	Therapeutic Goal	Mechanism of Action
Acute Otitis Media	Amoxicillin	Resolution of ear infection and reduction of pain and inflammation	Antibiotic
Leukaemia	Doxorubacin	Killing cancer cells	Chemotherapeutic – causes intercalation of tumour DNA and inhibits tumour cell replication
Hypertension	Losartan  Enalapril  Atenolol Metoprolol  Nadolol  Propranolol	Lower blood pressure	Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB)  Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors  b-blocker
Depression	Citalopram	Improvement of mood	Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

Teaching tips:  

Considerations around therapeutics used to teach about: 

• How to develop a therapeutic goal 

• Evaluation of treatment options to achieve the therapeutic goal and benefits and risks of each treatment option 

• Determination of which treatment option(s) to use in consultation with patients/families 

• Developing a management plan including evaluation of benefits and risks of the therapeutic option(s) chosen and how to determine treatment success or failure  

• Understand the principle of cost-effectiveness of therapy

• de Vriers TPGM, Henning RH, Hogerzeil HV, Fresle DA.  Guide to good prescribing: A practical manual.  https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/59001/WHO_DAP_94.11.pdf 
  - This manual outlines the WHO 6-step approach to rationale prescribing 

• Keijsers CJPW, Segers WS, de Wildt DJ, Brouwers JRBJ, Keijsesrs L, Jansen PAF.  Implementation of the WHO 6-step method in the medical curriculum to improve pharmacology knowledge and pharmacotherapy skills.  Br J Clin Pharmacol2015; 79: 896-906 
  - This study explores how the WHO 6-step method for rationale prescribing can be used to improve prescribing skills for undergraduate medical students 

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