Principles of drug therapy

Key principles of clinical pharmacology inform prescribing in palliative care. Concepts discussed in this chapter include issues surrounding patient compliance, the importance of medicines reconciliation, the use of guidelines and formularies, and the role of unlicensed medications. Differences between efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness; the nature of a benefit-to-risk analysis; and the meaning of pharmacokinetic variation and pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic relationships are then explored. Drug interactions, including adverse drug reactions, are discussed and finally, the topic of pharmacogenomics is covered. More extensive information about general pharmacology is available in comprehensive pharmacology textbooks.