Understanding Pharmacology for Pharmacy Technicians

ISBN: 9781585282296
ISBN-10: 1585282294
Copyright: 2013
Edition: 1st
Author: Stuhan, Mary Ann
Doody's Expert Review    Score: 86
Reviewer: Lawrence Carey,  BS, PharmD  (Temple University School of Pharmacy)
Description
The better educated technicians are, the more helpful they will be to supervising pharmacists. This book, designed to do just that, is a joy to read in terms of completeness as well as visual appeal. The tables at the end of each chapter add to its comprehensive nature.
Purpose
The purpose is to give pharmacy technicians a very broad and complete overview of the drugs they handle on a daily basis. This book is a welcome addition, as there is a dearth of books specifically written at an appropriate level for pharmacy technicians.
Audience
Although specifically targeted at pharmacy technicians, this book has the potential to help other audiences as well, such as LPNs, medical coders, and medical assistants. The author, the director of a technician program, is certainly credible, qualified, and knowledgeable about what technicians need to know.
Features
The book is organized in a modular format, for the most part by body system, ranging from the nervous and musculoskeletal system through the heart/lungs/abdomen, and ends with specific disciplines of pharmacy such as infectious disease and oncology. I particularly like the case questions in the margins and the summary tables at the end of each chapter (although there are some typographical errors in brand names of products, such as some nutritional supplements on p. 515). I also like the "practice points" that appear throughout, which will assist readers. The book is easy to read, although there are many pages with no illustrations, which may be a problem for visual learners.
Assessment
This book is well done. It is written at a higher level than other pharmacy/pharmacology books, which I consider to be an advantage. It is pleasing to read and is a very complete, useful reference. I teach in an allied health program that requires pharmacology and have yet to find a suitable textbook that is inclusive, well written, error free, and visually appealing. I would consider replacing the one I currently use (Essentials of Pharmacology for Health Occupations, 6th edition, Woodrow et al. (Delmar Cengage Learning, 2010) with this one, even though I do not teach technicians -- it is that good.
Review Questionnaire
Range Question Score
1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 8
1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 8
1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5
1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 5
1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 4
1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 5
1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 3
1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 4
1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 4
1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5
1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 3
1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 5
1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5
1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book 5
1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 8
1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? N/A