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Principles of clinical pharmacology and drug therapy 

Principles of clinical pharmacology and drug therapy
Chapter:
Principles of clinical pharmacology and drug therapy
Author(s):

Kevin O’Shaughnessy

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199204854.003.10
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date: 21 October 2021

The role of clinical pharmacology is to provide the scientific basis for rational prescribing: ‘patients may recover in spite of drugs … or because of them’ (Gaddum). This sums up the dilemma facing any doctor who prescribes a drug to a patient: it should certainly be the doctor’s explicit intention to do the patient some good, but the drug may actually harm the patient, and on rare occasions it can even kill them....

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