Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics: Core Concepts and Clinical Implications Student’s Name Institution of Affiliation Course Instructor Name Date Pharmacokinetics: Core Concepts and Clinical Implications Pharmacokinetics is a branch of pharmacology that describes the fate of drugs in the body. Nursing practice must grasp the principles to justify favorable and secure patient handling. Pharmacokinetics is subdivided into four major critical processes that describe how a drug behaves and gets to its site of action: absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination. However, individual characteristics, including body weight and specific diseases, may affect these procedures, especially absorption. The Four Gross Divisions of Pharmacokinetics Absorption Absorption is when a given drug gets into the systemic circulation upon administration. It determines whether a drug will deliver its intended goal and is the first phase of its life cycle. These include the route of administration (oral, intravenous, transdermal, formulation of the drug, and solubility of the active ingredient used.. However, intravenous drugs do not undergo the absorption phase, thus reaching the systemic circulation as soon as possible. Distribution Blood also distributes a drug, that is, after it has been assimilated into the system. When a drug has been assimilated into the system, then blood is used to disperse it all over the body. This process defines the ability or extent to which the drug reaches different tissues or organs. These factors include the ability of tissues to allow passage of a drug through its capillary walls and cells' ability to take up the drug and bind to plasma proteins such as albumin. Metabolism Pharmacokinetics, or bioavailability, refers to the action of metabolism, or biotransformation, on a drug in the body. Most drug metabolism occurs in the liver because enzymes such as the cytochrome P450 oxides drugs into an active or inactive substance. Pharmacokinetic pr...