Continuing Education Course Finder: BIOCS01-1a

First Aid for the Medicine Cabinet: Drugs in the Context of Disease (BIOCS01-1a)

Status: Closed

Fee: $375.00

Timing: 10 sessions from October 8, 2009 - December 17, 2009 on Thursdays, 7-9pm no class 11/26

Course Description: As a part of this course Emergency Medical training will be provided, with an option for AHA certification, aimed at equipping students with the knowledge and skills to deal with the life-threatening situations that commonly arise with patients.

Greater than 99.9% of medical interventions involve the administration of a drug. Are you or the people you care about, taking drugs without understanding what or why? In an age of an increasingly medicated society, having the knowledge to deal with situations where questions arise about the use of medicines is an invaluable survival skill. Not only are more people being prescribed medicines but they are getting many different drugs simultaneously. Inappropriate use of medications and adverse drugs reactions are among the leading causes of hospitalization.

However, people generally have no basic education in this critical area of their health. The primary objective of this course is to describe commonly prescribed drugs in the context of the diseases they are used to treat. Students who complete this course will learn the major drug strategies, understand how they are put into clinical practice, and know how to react to problems.

The course will include these core areas:
Cardiology
Schizophrenia and Depression
Geriatrics
Asthma
Oncology
Infectious Diseases

We will expand upon a basic knowledge of drugs and disease with readings and discussions:

1. How do the most popular medicines work in the body? What are the side effects of these drugs and how can they interact with each other? Why are some combinations harmful and some benign or beneficial?
2. Alternative medicines: Miracle drugs or cynical quackery?
3. Advertising directly to the patient: Public service broadcast or marketing hype? Do you need doctors anymore?
4. Medical information: How to uncover the truth? How can you understand medical articles and evaluate scientific claims?
5. Who to trust: where to get expert and impartial medical advice?
6. From bench to bedside: What is the route of drug discovery: research, regulation, and release?
7. What to do when drugs fail? Emergency training including asthma attacks, heart attacks, stroke, drug overdose, falls, etc.

The principle aim of this course is to provide a survival guide to living in the new age where, on average, every single American is taking more than one prescription medication per month.

Course website: http://www.drugsanddisease.synthasite.com/

Suggested textbook: Principles of Pharmacology: The Pathophysiologic Basis of Drug Therapy . Golan et al.

Instructor(s): Andrew Mallon

Instructor(s) Bio: Dr. Andrew Peter Mallon hails from Scotland, where he first studied and then practiced as a pharmacist both for industry and in the community. He then studied medicine at Glasgow University where his research discovered a potent new protein memory drug whilst developing a new medicines strategy for use in stroke, epilepsy and a host of other mental illnesses. Specializing in 'quality of life' disorders in Psychiatry and Neurology, Dr. Mallon is currently at Brown University developing new drugs and is co-founder and Director of Research at Ardane therapeutics, a local Biotech company developing drugs for Stroke. Dr. Mallon has a passion for teaching courses that provide crucial knowledge and understanding that improves the lives of people.