Chapter 01 - Introduction to Drugs A nurse working in radiology administers iodine to a patient who is having a computed tomography(CT) scan. The nurse working on the oncology unit administers chemotherapy to patients who have cancer. At the Public Health Department, a nurse administers a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to a 14-month-old child as a routine immunization. Which branch of pharmacology best describes the actions of all three nurses? Pharmacoeconomics Pharmacotherapeutics Pharmacodynamics Pharmacokinetics Ans: B Feedback: Pharmacology is the study of the biologic effects of chemicals. Nurses are involved with clinical pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics, which is a branch of pharmacology that deals with the uses of drugs to treat, prevent, and diagnose disease. The radiology nurse is administering a drug to help diagnose a disease. The oncology nurse is administering a drug to help treat a disease. Pharmacoeconomics includes any costs involved in drug therapy. Pharmacodynamics involves how a drug affects the body and pharmacokinetics is how the body acts on the body. A physician has ordered intramuscular (IM) injections of morphine, a narcotic, every 4 hours as neededfor pain in a motor vehicle accident victim. The nurse is aware this drug has a high abuse potential. Under what category would morphine be classified? Schedule I Schedule II Schedule III Schedule IV Ans: B Feedback: Narcotics with a high abuse potential are classified as Schedule II drugs because of severe dependence