Oxford Textbook of Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Therapy
Authors: Grahame-Smith D G and Aronson J K
I have always felt that one of the basic requirements for both a doctor and a medical student should be to acquire knowledge of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. Writing or suggesting a prescription is such a basic medical act for many medical specialities and for some it is a core skill. Yet it is a part of our educational process that does not feature as highly as it should both in the undergraduate and postgraduate fields. So step forward this book to satisfy such a demand and it achieves its aim remarkably well. There is something here for everyone and certainly for GPs, this contains a vast amount of useful material assembled within its 641 pages.
The book is divided into 4 sensible sections: the first looks at the science behind drugs whilst the second section looks at practical prescribing. Chapter 19 on how to write a prescription is superb and should be read by every prescriber as well as being mandatory reading for an undergraduate. The final two sections look at the way drugs are used to treat disease whilst the remaining section is a drugs index looking at 300 commonly used drugs. Each drug is given a standardised description, which contains the core information that will be of interest to a prescriber.
All in all, this is a keenly priced book that contains a substantial volume of practical and theoretical information for a prescriber. In addition to owning that essential book the BNF, GPs should have access to at least one up to date clinical pharmacology textbook and this book will fit the bill.
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press
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| Third Edition (First published 2002)
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| ISBN: 0-19-263234-5
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| Month of review: | April 2002
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