Effects increase gradually with increases in the blood level of the medication. The top of the therapeutic range is referred to as the maximal efficacy because this blood level produces the most effect that is possible no matter how much more the blood level is increased. This would mean that a client could only have medication effects part of the time unless we could keep the blood level in the therapeutic range. Another way to maintain a therapeutic range is to give another dose before each previous dose is totally out of the body. Potency of a medication needs to be explained.
Potency is only a measure of how much medication is needed to produce the desired effect.
If very little is required, the medication is said to be very potent . Being very potent, however, does not mean the drug is better, causes less damage, or produces much more effects overall than a less potent medication. Very potent medications can provide less adjustability to achieve just the right therapeutic effects while keeping undesired effects at a minimum, because even a slight change in dose can make a big difference. Checking the dose can be very important, because doses for different routes or different forms of a medication may be very different. Even the reason for giving a medication may require a different size dose than that required for some other disorder.