/Homework help

[Household6]

I'm doing terms and their definitions tonight. A side effect is defined as "any action of a drug other than the desired action".. Okay..

An Untoward Effect is "an effect of a medication in addition to its desired effect that may be harmful to the patient".

I don't understand the difference between the two, in my brain they're synonymous terms. Does it mean that a side effect can be good or bad, but an untoward effect is always bad?

Can anyone provide me a real-life example of how they are different so I can file it away in my head?

TIA.

 

[unleashedfury]

a side effect and untoward effect.

Ok lets use Nitroglycerin.

Pre hospital its used for angina/chest pain suspected cardiac related

a side effect is headache

an untoward effect is hypotension as Nitro is a vasodilator it will drop the blood pressure of the patient with chest pain. it can be beneficial if the patient is hypertensive. but could be harmful if the patient loses blood pressure and bottoms out.

Its the best way I can describe it.

 

[technocardy]

A side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug.

An untoward effect is only an adverse effect, or an undesired and unexpected response.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

I'm doing terms and their definitions tonight. A side effect is defined as "any action of a drug other than the desired action".. Okay..

An Untoward Effect is "an effect of a medication in addition to its desired effect that may be harmful to the patient".

I don't understand the difference between the two, in my brain they're synonymous terms. Does it mean that a side effect can be good or bad, but an untoward effect is always bad?

Can anyone provide me a real-life example of how they are different so I can file it away in my head?

TIA.

You just answered your question in this post. An untoward effect is bad. A side effect isn't.

 

[MrJones]

I'll go on record as agreeing with the OP that the 2 terms are, in fact, effectively synonymous. Think about it....

"A side effect is defined as "any action of a drug other than the desired action".. " - So, a side effect may or may not be a harmful action.

"An Untoward Effect is "an effect of a medication in addition to its desired effect that may be harmful to the patient"" - It may be harmful or, it may not be harmful to the patient. See "Side Effect".

I would also add that searching the literature will reveal frequent examples of the phrase "untoward side effect(s)".