Medical Pharmacology at a Glance 6 Edition

The new edition Medical Pharmacology at a Glance was published on May 4, 2009. Medical Pharmacology at a Glance is an accessible introduction and revision text for medical students. This medical book is one of at a Glance series which is famous among medical students. At A Glance has concise and simple approach and excellent illustrations. This medical book was become favorite medical textbook among medical students around the world. This book allow a visual synthesis that facilitates learning Pharmacology. It is good to understand pharmacological basis of therapeutics because its user-friendly overview of medical pharmacology.

Medical Pharmacology at a Glance 6 Edition:


* Addresses the key principles of medical pharmacology that are central to medicine
* Contains full-colour artwork throughout, making the subject easy to understand
* Presents schematic diagrams on the left page and concise explanations on the right
* Contains 10 self-assessment cases
* Explains the mechanisms involved in pharmacological processes and covers the mode of action and effects of drugs in clinical medicine
* Discusses the mechanisms of action of each drug, indicating the therapeutics of choice for specific conditions
* Covers basic principles of drug action; drug-receptor interactions; drug absorption, distribution and excretion; drug metabolism; how drugs act on specific body systems; and how drugs are used in a variety of common complaints
* Includes the latest changes in pharmacology and the British Pharmacological Society Core Curriculum


This book is an invaluable resource for all medical students just starting their study of medical pharmacology and for those approaching finals, for pharmacology students, junior doctors and residents.


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Lexi-Comp's Pediatric Dosage Handbook: Including Neonatal Dosing, Drug Adminstration, & Extemporaneous Preparations

The pediatric population is a dynamic group, with great changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics taking place throughout infancy and childhood. Because of these vital changes, the need for the evaluation and establishment of medication dosing regimens in children of different ages is important. The Pediatric Dosage Handbook, 14th Edition, continues to be the trusted information resource for medical professionals managing pediatric patients. This medical books also helps medical students in understanding pediatric pharmacokinetics and medical pharmacology.

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Drug Information Handbook: A Comprehensive Resource for All Clinicians and Healthcare Professionals

Lexi-Comp's Drug Information Handbook continues to set the industry standard with hundreds of thousands of copies sold! This easy to use reference is a must-have for all medical students, clinicians and healthcare professionals seeking quick access to concise, comprehensive drug information. This medical book contains over 1400 monographs, including 30 new drugs and hundreds of updates. Each monograph encompasses up to 33 fields of information, with very detailed content on dosage, drug interactions, and adverse reactions. With this edition, US Black Box Warnings are highlighted within the monographs. Supplementing the drug information is an extensive Appendix, with hundreds of charts and reviews of special topics, such as guidelines for treatment and therapy recommendations. Also included is a Pharmacologic Category Index, listing all drugs in this handbook under their unique pharmacologic class.

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Pharmacotherapy : A Pathophysiologic Approach

From The New England Journal of Medicine, May 18, 2000
"Medicines," wrote Leonardo da Vinci, "will be well used when the doctor understands their nature, what man is, what life is, and what constitution and health are. Know these well and you will know their opposites; you will then know well how to devise a remedy." As the coauthor of a textbook on clinical pharmacology and drug therapy for medical students, in which this principle is espoused, I applaud any attempt by others to do likewise. That is indeed the basis for this textbook on drug therapy for clinical pharmacists.

An introductory section on some of the basic principles of clinical pharmacology is followed by 16 sections on the management of diseases, organized according to systems of the body. In each of the chapters dealing with individual diseases, the authors first discuss the pathophysiologic principles and then outline the methods of drug therapy appropriate to each, firmly grounding the therapy in the context of the pathophysiology. Some of the sections on systems of the body include accounts of the evaluation of the diseases to which the system is prey. In each case, the arguments for using one drug or another are based on the most recent evidence, cited in the bibliography at the end of each chapter, although one of the cornerstones of evidence-based medicine, the number of patients who would need to be treated to produce a given outcome (known as the number needed to treat), is conspicuously absent. The discussions are for the most part excellent, but the chapters that include contributions from physicians have a slight edge over those that do not.

It is strange that such a high-quality text is not accompanied by better diagrams. Although there are several good anatomical diagrams, there are few that illustrate normal physiology or the pathophysiology of disease, and those that are provided do not show the use of drugs and where they act. In contrast, for virtually every condition, there is a flow chart indicating what to do when a test is positive or negative, when a patient has a particular clinical feature that might modify therapy, or when a patient does or does not have a response to treatment. But these diagrams are difficult to use. Moreover, their rigid format does not accommodate an understanding that the enormous variability among the patients one encounters in everyday practice greatly militates against such an approach in all but the simplest stepwise problem, such as the treatment of asthma, which is clearly illustrated by the simplicity of the flow chart for asthma.

The introductory chapters are disappointing. To open with a chapter on the economics of drug therapy surely gives the wrong emphasis, even in an increasingly cost-conscious health care system. The chapter on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics sets a high bar to vault, and other chapters are too short to allow their authors a long enough run up to succeed. An introduction of only 90 pages (less than 4 percent of the text) is not enough, although to be fair, some general aspects of drug therapy are discussed in other chapters (for instance, there is a description of how to alter drug dosages in the section on renal disorders). I found few mistakes in the book and none of importance, except for the curious dose ranges for angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors listed in the chapter on heart failure, with daily doses as high as 400 mg given for drugs such as enalapril.

This book is a good reference for clinical pharmacists who can create their own diagrams. But to get the most out of the text, they will need to know their basics pretty well and be prepared to flesh out certain points by consulting the review literature.

Jeffrey K. Aronson, D.Phil., F.R.C.P.
Copyright © 2000 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this titl

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Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics

Vincent J Felitti, MD of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group reviewed this pharmacology books. This is the medical book reviewed from vincent:
There are few technical books that remain in a leadership position for 65 years. The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics is one. Physicians, teachers, and medical students have voted for Goodman & Gilman with their feet and with their pocketbooks for over six decades. The question is not whether this is an important and useful text, but why?

A sentence by the original authors in their 1940 preface still describes the 11th edition: “This medical book has also been written for the practicing physician, to whom it offers an opportunity to keep abreast of recent advances in therapeutics and to acquire the basic principles necessary for the rational use of drugs in his/her daily practice.” The book’s 65 chapters are grouped into 15 sections: General Principles, Drugs Acting at Synaptic and Neuroeffector Junctional Sites, Drugs Acting on the Central Nervous System, Drug Therapy of Inflammation, Drugs Affecting Renal and Cardiovascular Function…Chemotherapy of Microbial Diseases, Chemotherapy of Neoplastic Diseases…Hormones and Hormone Antagonists, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Toxicology, plus two appendices on prescription writing and patient compliance, and on the design of dosage regimens.

Reading the sections on general principles reminds one that, with the notable exception of antimicrobial and antiparasitic therapy, pharmacology is the science of altering human physiology by chemical means. The well-written chapter on treating hypertension illustrates this concept nicely; it is a pleasure to read and a vast improvement over the PDR or drug company ads. So too is the chapter on principles of antimicrobial therapy. Given the large number of authors, some chapters are easier to read than others, but none can be faulted for lack of well-organized and referenced information. Comparison of the current edition with the fifth edition of only 30 years ago provides an interesting insight into changing times. Then, the great Louis Weinstein personally wrote all the chapters on antimicrobial agents. In the current edition, five experienced and specialized physicians are required for that task.

Even so, a book this size is not the end-all of pharmacology. Some uncommon drugs or drug uses are not described; fortunately, references are provided to information in earlier volumes about some once-major drugs no longer available in the US: eg, emetine, which has uses, though no market, far beyond its amebicical activity. Unusual uses of medications are noted, eg, cimetidine as a treatment for warts because of its immunostimulant effects. At the other extreme, one imagines the current avian influenza threat will generate great interest in the section on anti-influenza agents. Surprisingly, immunizing agents are barely mentioned in the total of three pages. The ever-increasing complexities of HIV treatment are covered in an understandable fashion.

Appendix 1 deals with prescription writing, the potential for errors in drug orders, and patient compliance. The book closes with nearly 100 pages of tabular pharmacokinetic data providing nicely organized data on oral bioavailability, excretion, volume of distribution, half-life, and other information that is occasionally needed but not usually difficult to locate for commonly prescribed medications.

While Goodman & Gilman is no quick-read, it is surprisingly clearly written, logical and interesting. It is also an awesome realization to see how much one never knew, added to what one knew but forgot. Nevertheless, the logical, step-wise organization of The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics provides a much greater sense of confidence in one’s ability for self-development than do drug company ads or their frequently underwritten large clinical trials for me-too drugs. Vincent J Felitti once knew an older physician in Baltimore who said he read ten pages every night from the then-current second edition. While this was easier to do with earlier versions, the task is still not inconceivable.

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