Pharmacology Chapter 3(Cultural and Pharmacogenetic Considerations)
Ethnopharmacology is the study of drug responses that maybe an individual owing to social, cultural,
and biologic phenomena.
Pharmacogenetics integrates the study of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and variations of the
predicted response to a drug due to genetic factors.
Culture is defined as sets of learned behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as members of a
community.
Community is a cluster of individuals who function as a group to attain cultural universals.
Cultural universals are designed to meet the community’s survival needs and common goals such as the
obtainment of food and other practices that maintain the group.
Transcultural nursing
Madeleine Leininger (1974)- a nurse anthropologist, who formalized the concept of transcultural
nursing.
Traditional health practices- numerous cultural groups engage, which may include use of teas,
herbs,spices, and special foods as well as homeo-pathic remedies, poultices, and ointments.
Healers- play a role in traditional health practices in about 80% of the population worldwide.
Assimilation- occurs when a less powerful group changes its ways to blend in with the dominant cultural
group.
Acculturation- is the process by which a group adjusts to living within a dominant culture while at the
same time maintaining its original identity.
Complementary Health practices – this sets the stage that combine traditional beliefs and main stream
health practices.
Alternative health Practices- when a dominant group adopts health practices from a dominant group.
Transcultural Assessment Model(1998)- developed by Giger and Davidhizar, suggests that all cultures
have six(6)cultural phenomena.
1. Communication- occurs verbally and non- verbally.
Language- patients’ use of languages other than English may pose a challenge to nurses
working in the United States.
Vernacular English-adding to the challenge of communication is the pervasive use of
words and phrases that are popular in particular social or cultural groups.
Greetings and Communication Styles-all cultures have prescribed norms for greeting
and addressing others.
2. Space-the amount of space around a person’s body is an important psychological consideration.
3. Social Organizations-families are basic social units, the definition of family and the criteria for
inclusion varies among individuals and among cultures.
4. Time- Time moves slowly for a patient who is anxious or in pain but moves quickly for a nurse
who has a demanding workload.
5. Environmental control- major aspect of culture is the desire to control nature to facilitate the
needs of human beings.
6. Biologic variations-
Pharmacogenomics refers to the general study of all the different genes that determine drug
behavior.
The Genographic Project- has performed DNA testing on populations all over the world, reveal that
humans are 99.9% are genetically identical.
Genomes- are a complete set of chromosomes and make up a cell’s called DNA.
Polymorphisms- are DNA variants that occur within a specific population at a frequency greatert 1%.
Substrate- is a substance that binds to and is metabolized by one or more enzymes.
Chapter 4 (Drug Interactions and Over-the-Counter Drugs)
Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs—drugs that are obtainable without a prescription.
Drug interaction- is defined as an altered or modified action or effect of a drug as a result of
interaction with one or multiple drugs.
Adverse drug reaction- is an undesirable drug effect that ranges from mild untoward effects to
severe toxic effects, including hypersensitivity reaction and anaphylaxis.
Drug incompatibility- is a chemical or Physical reaction that occurs among two or more drugs in
vitro.
Pharmacokinetic interactions- are changes that occur in the absorption,
distribution,metabolism or biotransformation, and excretion of one or more drugs.
