We are currently in the pharmacology phase of our class and our course books didn't include any drug reference book. What books to you guys prefer? I'm looking for something that will give me the drug profile, generic and trade names, intended effects, indications, contraindications, dose, the drug form and route, drug warnings and side effects for all of the drugs carried or encountered. I don't need a pocket book because we all know they are of little use in the field I just need a resource to study and learn from. So give me your thoughts on well put together books or even online resources that have a good bulk of information that is verified to pull from.
medication resources
- Thread starter marineman
- Start date
We didn't have a book. We just printouts that the instructor gave us. I'll try to get a sample later.
traumateam1
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reaper
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The nurses drug reference is an excellent book to keep handy!
Is that the title of it? Do you happen to know the ISBN number or publisher as I'm sure there's a couple with similar names.
Ridryder911
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Look at Amazon or any other publisher website. PDR, Mosby, RN magazine, Gyatts medication books are good. You can also usually purchase these at any bookstore in a mall such Walden's, Barnes & Noble.
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paccookie
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PDRs are not something you want to carry around. Plus, they are written using information provided by the drug manufacturers...tends to be a bit biased.
I would recommend one of the many nursing drug guides. Davis or Mosby or Lippincott are all good. They're all pretty much the same and contain all of the info you listed on your need to know list. Brady has a pre-hospital pharmacology book, but I'm not sure if it's a current book or not. I have a copy of a 2000 edition (not 100% on the year...it's blue...) that I picked up really cheap off ebay. It comes in handy when I'm doing homework.
I ended up going with the Prentice Hall Nurses Drug Guide 2009. After looking through several books all of the information was the same the only real difference was layout and this one tripped my fancy the most. We have a few prehospital/paramedic drug books in the classroom at school but when our teacher was giving us recommendations he said the only problem with the nurses books was that they gave you more information than you need to know. In my opinion a book having too much information in it is the worst possible reason to not buy it. I plan on learning more than what's required and eventually doing CCT/flight so I want something a little more comprehensive.
EMT-P633
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I used a similar book to the one you bought, What i did was to type out index cards and pick out the information needed for class. I did the Prehosp drugs mainly and the more common perscription drugs. this is what worked for me. on the index cards I color coded them for the text type like this
DRUG NAME in black
drug action
Indications
Contraindications
Precautions/side effects
dosages & routes
Put them all together in a small 5x8 binder and I had my own drug book that I could carry with me alot easier then the big NDR. with the info I needed on the drugs i needed. And since I did the work myself it was a good learning experience as well. I still use it. It sits on the counter of my rig every shift. Since it is a binder I can add to it.
DRUG NAME in black
drug action
Indications
Contraindications
Precautions/side effects
dosages & routes
Put them all together in a small 5x8 binder and I had my own drug book that I could carry with me alot easier then the big NDR. with the info I needed on the drugs i needed. And since I did the work myself it was a good learning experience as well. I still use it. It sits on the counter of my rig every shift. Since it is a binder I can add to it.