2026 6 Pharmacology I pharmacokinetics

This teaching session is on pharmacology, specifically pharmacokinetics. This is an important basic science that underpins therapeutics in paediatrics. It has many implications as medications for children become more complex.  We will discuss the basic science: drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and clearance / elimination, and the many factors that affect these. And we give examples of commonly used drugs and how they differ in these four processes.  A knowledge of the principles of pharmacokinetics is fundamental to detecting adverse effects of drugs, drug interactions, differences in responses, and polypharmacy.