2004 Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide [Paperback]

Amy M. Karch (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide | Publication Date: June 26, 2003

Updated for 2004 with more than 800 complete drug monographs, this annual reference is an invaluable resource for practicing nurses and students. Organized alphabetically for easy access, monographs cover generic and trade names; pronunciations; pregnancy risk category; controlled substance schedule if appropriate; drug class; therapeutic actions; indications, including unlabeled indications; contraindications and cautions; available forms; dosage information; pharmacokinetics; IV facts section; adverse effects; interactions; assessment; intervention; and teaching points. More than 20 appendices as well as free mini CD-ROM, with 200 drug monographs and customizable patient- teaching handouts, are included. Access to important drug updates and new drugs, as well as continuing education tests, are provided at NursingDrugGuide.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1472 pages
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Bk&CD-Rom edition (June 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582552606
• ISBN-13: 978-1582552606
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 4.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,735,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good but not complete, January 13, 2004

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This review is from: 2004 Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide (Paperback)

You're only as good as your current information. While the Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide 2004 has lots of useful information and is a compact, informative source for most drugs, it's missing many new drugs approved and on the market as of 2002. For example, Pimecrolimus (tradename Elidel) which is widely used by derms, peds and family practice doctors is nowhere to be found in the book either under its generic or brand name.

Some similar medications with the same mode of action but different absorption and pharmacokinetics are lumped together For example, Concerta, Ritalin LA, Ritalin, Ritalin SR are all lumped together under their generic name without discussing the effects of the different delivery systems and how that might impact patient side effects.

There's absolutely no mention of oral terbinafine which has been on the market for the last three years. Since oral anti-fungals can have differing coverage and drug interactions, it would be wise to be comprehensive in this particular category.

On the other hand, many of the IV medications are pretty up-to-date making this more of an indepensible guide for hospitals vs. office based practices. Certainly there are medications that might be sampled/written on the office level here as well; it just appears as if the information isn't as comprehensive as could be.

The book is well organzied with an index based around the class of medication as well as generic names. For those medications that are "branded" it might be a bit more difficult to find as there is no brand name guide. Since not all of us think of medications and their generic names, this might be a useful cross reference (particularly if the patient knows the brand name and not the generic as so often happens).

There's a very useful section based on the different types of medications that provides a thumbnail overview of the class and the typical side effects and effects seen with the class of medication. There's also a useful section that has illustrations of some of the common medications out there. Since patients frequently remember the color and shape of their pills but not always other details about the medication (beyond what they take it for), this is useful as well in determining what the patient might be taking.

This book is certainly more user friendly and easier to access than the PDR and is missing the complete PI for various medications verbatium. In a sense, this is an advantage as the guide provides a good, quick and targeted overview on each medication. It also allows nurses to sidestep the useful information that the FDA frequently requires drug manufacturers to put in their package insert.

On the whole, Karch's book is very good and an indepensible tool for nurses. Karch's book also overlooks a number of popular medications that were approved as soon as two years ago and tends to lump the medications together without distinguishing the differences between delivery systems and how that might impact the side effects patients feel.