Customer Reviews

Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics

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4 star:		(1)
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I have used this textbook in my 1-credit hour pharmacoeconomics course for the past two years. The depth and breadth of coverage works very well for professional pharmacy students. Dr. Rascati reviews examples in the text and provides additional exercises for student practice. The feedback that I have received from students is overwhelmingly positive. And, the price is reasonable. My only wish is that the publisher would make new examples and exercises available each year.

This is a very easy textbook to read. It provides section by section explanations, which makes sense even if you do not get formal classroom lectures. It is very interesting to see different kinds of studies and then be able to recognize them in real life. Pharmacoeconomics is a needed resource for pharmacists.

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2009; 73 (5) Article 94.

BOOK REVIEWS
Rascati KL. Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2009. 250 pages; $55 (paperback). ISBN-13: 978-0781765442.
Reviewed By: Yifei Liu, BS Pharm, PhD Division of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, University of Missouri - Kansas City
Dr. Rascati's book, Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics, is an introductory but fundamental book for pharmacy students and pharmacists to understand and apply the principles of pharmacoeconomics. In the field of pharmacoeconomics, Dr. Rascati has accumulated years of experience in both teaching and research at a US pharmacy school. Her rich experiences were heavily incorporated into the contents and organization of the book, which makes it an excellent textbook for pharmacy education.
So far, the book has generated 2 positive book reviews. One review, written by a journal editor, describes the book contents in detail by chapters.1 The other review, written by a graduate student in biotechnology, explains why the book should be a primer for students beginning to explore pharmacoeconomics.2 This book review examines the book from the angle of a pharmacy educator, including a succinct summary of its contents as well as highlights of its merits.
Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics consist of 2 parts: Basic Topics and Advanced Topics. With 8 chapters, the first part focuses on 4 pharmacoeconomic methods - cost-minimization analysis, cost-effective analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the third chapter outlines the criteria to critique a pharmacoeconomic research article. These criteria not only aid pharmacy students in the literature search, but also sharpen their critical thinking abilities. With 6 chapters, the second part discusses more advanced topics related to decision making such as Markov modeling and the use of retrospective databases. Furthermore, the twelfth chapter links pharmacy services with pharmacoeconomic, providing a framework for US doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students to assess costs and benefits of medication therapy management (MTM). Overall, the scope and depth of the book efficiently meets the guidelines related to pharmacoeconomics by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
The book has 3 merits. First, practical examples are embedded within most chapters, which can help pharmacy students better learn relevant topics. Second, each chapter encompasses well-designed exercises, up-to-date references, and suggested readings. The exercises are tools for self-assessment, and the references and readings are nourishment for further learning. Third, as pointed out earlier, the third and twelfth chapters present insights into evaluating research articles and performing pharmacy services, areas usually absent in pharmacoeconomics texts. This book's merits make it outshine other pharmacoeconomics textbooks.

In summary, Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics is a high-quality, intellectual contribution to the pedagogy of pharmacoeconomics in pharmacy. As a pharmacy educator, after reading the book, I deeply appreciate the time and effort Dr. Rascati spent on both teaching and research in pharmacoeconomics. No doubt it was her experience from those endeavors that resulted in this book. I highly recommend the book to be used as a textbook in pharma¬coeconomics courses at US pharmacy schools.
REFERENCES

1. Carswell CI. Book Review of Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics. Pharmaco Economics. 2008;26:1065.

2. King H. Book Review of Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics. J Commerc Biotechnol. 2009;15:92-4.

Corresponding Author: Yifei Liu, BS Pharm, PhD, Division of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, University of Missouri - Kansas City, 4248 Health Sciences Bldg, 2464 Charlotte Street, Kansas City, MO 64108. E-mail: liuyif@umkc.edu


Pharmacoeconomics 2008; 26 (12): 1065 BOOK REVIEW 1170-7690/08/0012-1065/$48.00/0
© 2008 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.
BOOK REVIEW - Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics
Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics by Karen Rascati is an entry-level textbook clearly aimed at American pharmacy students. The text overviews the fundamental principles of pharmacoeconomics, with this niche audience always in focus.
[Here each chapter is summarized - see original review]
In summary, Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics is a valuable resource for US pharmacy students wishing to understand the basic principles of pharmacoeconomics in order to be able to use such data in their future decision making. The book is clearly written, contains many practical excercises and provides plenty of pertinent references for those wishing to study further.

Correspondence: Christopher I. Carswell, Wolters Kluwer Health| Adis
41 Centorian Drive, Private Bag 65901,
Mairangi Bay, North Shore 0754, Auckland, New Zealand.
frustrating. E-mail: [...]

The cases presented in the books are not bad and a little bit developped but the working method with TreeAge is missing. For sure it's not a TreeAge book but it could be nice to see how we can work with it because the officiale TreeAge documentation (free PDF) is not very well.