Drugs that have central, sedative effects tend to have additive effects when taken with other centrally acting sedative medicines. Another list you may want to keep in mind is drugs that have anticholinergic effects and drugs that increase the risk of serotonin syndrome. When any two of those drugs are taken together, then, it increases the risk of QT prolongation and/or arrhythmias. Once you know these medicines – which include macrolides and quinine and amiodarone – you can put together that list. For example, there are many drugs whose adverse effect is to prolong the QT interval. When learning about drug interactions, you will come across many themes. By knowing how a medicine is metabolised at the hepatic level (if metabolised by this route at all), it should trigger those inhibitors and inducers and give you a strong indication of how the drug interaction plays out. Learn which drugs are strong CYP inhibitors and strong CYP inducers. Many more drug interactions require you to know about CYP enzymes. By knowing these mechanistic facts, you can conclude that taking both allopurinol and one of those two drugs together will increase the risk of azathioprine / mercaptopurine toxicity. This medicine works by inhibiting the enzyme xanthine oxidase the same enzyme that metabolises the immunosuppressant drugs, azathioprine and mercaptopurine. In many cases, the interaction is intuitive. If you’re finding it difficult to recall drug interactions, first think about the underlying mechanism of each medicine to determine any potential interaction. By learning these interactions, you cast as wide a net as possible in your learning.Īs part of our online courses, we’ve put together a range of NAPLEX practice questions that cover drug interactions – preparing you for the needs and demands of your next pharmacy exam. Often, these are the drug interactions that are either the most serious or the most common. Instead, candidates should know the most important interactions.

Candidates are not expected, of course, to commit all known medicine interactions to memory. After all, there are many thousands of drug interactions. Learning drug interactions isn’t always easy. As a healthcare professional of medicine, you are expected to have an intimate knowledge of many of the key drug interactions and the consequences those interactions have. Drug interactions are an important part of the pharmacy exam.

Doctors in training cyp450 inducer