Explain the meaning of the term therapeutic window and discuss its importance in drug administration.

if concentration is too high it will have harmful side effects / determination of the lethal dose (to 50% of the population) / OWTTE;

if concentration is too low it has little or no beneficial effect / determination of the effective dose / dose which has a noticeable effect (on 50% of the population) / OWTTE;

therapeutic window is the range between these doses / range over which a drug can be safely administered / ratio of \({\text{L}}{{\text{D}}_{50}}\): \({\text{E}}{{\text{D}}_{50}}\);

for minor ailments a larger window is desirable, for serious conditions a smaller window may be acceptable / OWTTE;

(therapeutic window) depends on the drug/age/sex/weight;

a small therapeutic window means that an overdose is a high risk / OWTTE;

Many candidates clearly had an understanding of therapeutic window and placebos but failed to score full marks as insufficient details were given.