Dosage refers to how a drug should be administered.
The notion of dosage is used to refer to the way a drug is dosed. The term also refers to the area of pharmacology focused on the doses in which medications must be administered.
It should be remembered that a medication or drug is a substance that, when administered to an organism, allows to appease, cure or prevent a disease or reverse its consequences. For the medication to achieve the desired result, it must be administered in the right amount, since if it is administered in a lower or higher quantity it will have no effect or may even cause damage or even death.
How dosage is determined
Dosage, in this framework, is linked to the appropriate way of administering a medication . That is why it studies the functioning of the active ingredients and the relationship between the dose and the physical and physiological state of the patient, for example.
Regarding the patient's physical condition, one of the most relevant data is their weight in relation to their height and age. This last piece of information is part of the physiological state, along with sex and species: let us not forget that drugs are made for humans and animals, and that many times their administration ignoring this parameter can be fatal (for example: a painkiller for horses should not be ingested by a person).
The type of drug presentation is another issue studied by dosage. Medicines can be sold in capsules , tablets , drops , etc.
The dosage indicates how much of the remedy should be taken and how often.
Interval of feedings and duration of treatment
It is important to keep in mind that, in addition to the amount of the remedy, the dosage also defines the time interval between one administration and the next. It is not enough to indicate 10 mg of a drug: it is essential to establish how often the patient must receive that dose.
Likewise, the duration of treatment is also part of the dosage regimen . The scheduling of the dose, with the amount of drug and the interval between each administration, has to consider the extension of the process. The dosage, in short, indicates how many milligrams of medication the individual should ingest or receive, every how many hours and for how many days.
Various issues related to dosage
In addition to the criteria explained so far, the dosage requires knowledge of the dose of the active ingredient or the active salt that must be indicated according to the patient's weight . The cause of the disease is also of great importance, since in some cases this factor determines whether one drug or another is administered, especially if it should be attacked directly or indirectly.
As in any medical consultation, finding the cause of a disease requires a professional observation process that leads to a serious and precise diagnosis, if possible complemented by a series of laboratory tests for greater certainty. At this point we can reflect on the great difference that exists between self-medication and the recommendation made by a doctor: reading the leaflet of a medication is not enough to cover the dosage, because we do not overlook this stage of scientific study that can be so decisive. be in some cases.
Another of the fundamental points of dosage is the system of regional units. While this may not represent a problem for someone who trains and works in their place of birth, doctors who travel abroad must face a big difference in this regard in more than one case. Firstly, it is relevant when studying a condition and determining the appropriate dose; but it also becomes necessary to communicate this information to the patient. If this transmission is confusing, an error of varying severity may occur.