Book review

Hands-on Guide to Clinical Pharmacologyby Sukhdev Chatu, Alexander Milson & Christopher

Tol®eld

Published by Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford 2000

161 pages £9.99 ISBN 0632 055189

Since the publication of the Oxford Handbook of Clinical

Medicine in 1985, a plethora of similar pocket-sized

guides to a wide variety of medical specialities has appeared

in the white coats of both medical students and junior

doctors. The popularity of these books can be attributed to

the concise and well-structured `page per topic' format

introduced by the original handbook and employed almost

universally by subsequent authors. This slim volume

applies the same successful formula to the subject of

Clinical Pharmacology, aiming to provide a concise source

of relevant information on commonly used drugs. The

authors (themselves medical undergraduates) have written

their book as both a revision guide for medical students

and as an aide-memoire for junior doctors, but have they

been successful?

The book certainly passes the ®rst test, ®tting easily into

a white coat pocket. Approximately 100 drugs are

described, grouped into chapters by organ system in a

similar fashion to the British National Formulary. One

page is devoted to each drug, the information presented

in consistent tabular format. Indications, mechanism of

action, adverse effects, contra±indications and interactions

are listed, although drug doses have not been included.

The authors have coped well with the limitation of space

imposed by the `pocket' format, including only the most

clinically relevant information. Although most major drug

classes are dealt with in adequate depth, future editions

may need to ®nd room for pages describing the newer

anticonvulsants and antiplatelet agents. Some extra space

could be found with the omission of the guides to

management of common conditions, which have been

presented at the beginning of each chapter in heavily

truncated bullet point format. These are too brief to be of

practical use and are much better addressed by the more

general medical handbooks.

The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Pharmacology will

prove popular among medical students as it provides

answers to commonly asked questions in a format that is

concise and easy to use. The omission of drug doses

renders it rather less attractive to junior medical staff whom

I suspect will continue to rely upon the British National

Formulary.

M. Walters.Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Western In®rmary,Glasgow G11 6NT

382 # 2000 Blackwell Science Ltd Br J Clin Pharmacol, 50, 382