New Jersey College of Medicine - Journal Yearbook (Jersey City, NJ)

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Pharmacology is a discipline which has relevance to people in general, since it is from this branch of medical science that the physician must gain a proper rationale for the intelligent and informed use of drugs. In prescribing for a patient, con- sideration must be given not only to the action of the drug, but also to the length of time it will be effective, dose-response relationships, absorption, metabolic fate, excretion, and side effects. At the present time, this information is gained primarily in the first instance from animal studies, but the ultimate phar- macological usefulness of a drug must depend on its being thoroughly tested as a clinical agent both for safety and ef- ficiency. The Medical Pharmacology course at the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry is designed to provide a learning experience for sophomore medical students to qualify them to deal with problems in pharmacology in the clinic. Students are given a firm background in the principles of phar- macology and the pharmacodynamic properties of drugs, with the aim of correlating clinical science with current information on the pharmacological aspects of basic drug action. The course, therefore, provides a bridge between the basic sciences and clinical disciplines. A series of fundamental lectures in pharmacology is present- ed supplemented by laboratory classes, clinical demonstra- tions, case presentation, and individual and group conferences. Included in the subject matter are topics in basic principles of pharmacology, autonomic pharmacology, action of drugs in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system, psychopharmacology, cardiovascular pharmacology, diuretics, gastrointestinal drugs, endocrines, narcotics, chemotherapy, prescription writing and laws regulating the use of drugs in man. Laboratory classes are provided to give practical experience in bioassay, drug metabolism and experiments demonstrating hemodynamic responses to adrenergic and cholinergic drugs in animal experiments. Laboratory demon- strations illustrate principles and practical applications of local and general anesthesia. Clinical demonstrations and case presentations are used to relate the basic pharmacology to actual clinical problems in drug therapy. Students are divided into small groups for case presentations at the bedside, ward rounds and observation of techniques for monitoring the action of drugs in patients. Clinical demonstrations include dialysis procedures to illus- trate principles involved in the absorption and distribution of drugs across membranes. Actions of adrenergic drugs in pa- tients with cardiopulmonary diseases, and pharmacological responses to L-DOPA in Parkinson's Disease are demonstrated in clinical sessions with small groups of students. Case presen- tations cover topics in pharmacogenetics, chemotherapy, psychopharmacology, toxicology, and endocrinology. The ultimate goal of our teaching in pharmacology, therefore, is to provide an educational experience which will help the student develop sound and critical clinical iudgment in the proper use of drugs in disease states and to give him a useful background from which he may approach his patients with the assurance that he will have ready the knowledge to avail himself ofthe best form of therapy to treat particular sit- uations as they arise. D.D. Bonnycastle, PhD Professor and Chairman Department of Pharmacology 33

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Pharmacology represented the last chapter of the basic sciences as we eagerly anticipated the upcoming clinical years. lt was the department's iob to give us a firm background in the general principles governing the activity and uses of drugs and to impart to us the ability to critically evaluate the utility of new drugs. ln two short clinical years we have seen innovations with new drugs and the fading of older ones. ln view of this fact it appears that the ability to evaluate new drugs shall be the most important contribution Pharmacology could impart to us. Only time will tell, but one has the feeling that this obiec- tive was accomplished. Although Pharmacology had its weak points and anesthetiz- ing moments, it succeeded in getting the subject material across without threatening anyone's academic lite, by giving fair exams, and by offering labs which were more pertinent than any up to that time. Little did we know at the time that the true meaning of this discipline would be taught to us by the patients we were to r A-JA ' Hsrmgemglk see. To see an individual breathe easier after relief of his pul- DESMOND D. BONNYCASTLE, M.D. PI1 D monary edema, to see one relieved of pain or an agitated pa- CHAIRMAN tient become tranquil-these were the real lessons of Phar- macology. i Elf Seated L. to R. Eileen Eckhardt, Ph.D., Desmond D. Bonnycastle, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman: Mary Mycek, Ph.D. Standing, Dr. Kaul, George Condouris, Ph.D., Henry Brezenoff, Ph.D., Duncan Hutcheon, M.D., Ph.D., Sheldon B. Gertner, Ph.D., David S. Von Hagen, Ph.D.