Medication Book

[kells21]

Hello,

 

I just recently got a job as a Medical Assistant in a Cardiology Office. However, I am overwhelmed with the types and categories of medication. I will be attending PA school next fall. Is there any book anyone would recommend that I would be additionally helpful for PA School? I know there are many out there and am unfamiliar with which brand is better than others or if they are all generic books.

 

Thanks :)

[rev ronin]

I took an online "pharmacology for health professionals" class, which really was handy. It wasn't based on any chemistry whatsoever and very little physiology or mechanism of action, but it did a great job of helping the student recognize drugs by class. Not sure who all it was targeted to, but I found it helpful as an EMT to understand what conditions my patients had on the basis of their medications.

 

I don't have the textbook in front of me, but if you can find a similar class and get such a textbook (used via Amazon marketplace?), that would be my recommendation for a quick-and-dirty reference to help you out.

[acozadd]

Pharm sucks. So many drugs, so little time. We just had an exam on Cardio, GI, coagulation last week and next tuesday we already have another covering all of neuropharm.... Gets pharm flashcards and start memorizing now if you can. It's actually quite interesting but there really isn't time in school to memorize/grasp the drugs beyond a superficial understanding.

[MikeyBoy]

Honestly, won't do you any good until you understand the physiology behind each drug. Won't do you any good to become overwhelmed now.

 

I liked Lippincott's Pharmacology for a nice introduction into the pharmacology side of things, while I now use just my pocket Tarascon Pharmacopoeia if I need a quick reminder of generic/trade name.

[andersenpa]

Good for you to get started now. It will be good to reinforce what you are seeing as an MA, and will certainly make you do your job better. I occasionally see errors in med transcription by our MAs; a little pharm can't hurt.

 

The "Made Ridiculously Simple" series is a good one for beginners.

Amazon.com: Clinical Pharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple (MedMaster Series) (9780940780170): James Olson: Books

 

Lots of us used this in PA school as an adjunct to the pharm text.

[MCHAD]

As mentioned pharm flash cards are good...there are some pneumonic ones out there that a lot of my classmates used (i preferred to make up my own, it helped me remember them better), additionally here is a little bit of advice. The PANCE provides the Generic name all of the time but only provides the trade name when they deem necessary...I wish i had found this out before i had already finished 2 semesters of pharm. I memorized mostly trade names because they are usually a lot easier to pronounce, now i've gotta go back and learn all the generics.

[kells21]

Thanks for the great advice!

[Evan]

+1 for the Ridiculously Simple book...

 

+1 for the Flash cards...

 

And getting started now will not be a waste of your time... having a terascon book is handy but the Epocrates phone app is good too (and free)... Neither of those would help you learn anything unless you use them all the time to look up stuff you don't know and so that would be my next suggestion: look up every drug you come across... over time even the name recognition will be helpful...