Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology, 4th Edition (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series)

missing quite a few common ems drugs, but very in depth and easy to understand

I am a third year medical student and purchased this book as a first year to study for board exams. This book has pretty pictures, but over-simplifies and does not contain all the information that is in the board exams. Also, I found several inaccuracies in the text. As boards approached, I purchased Katzung and Trevor's Clinical Pharmacology, which is excellent, with much better questions, and all the important details. Don't be discouraged by the length, it is a fast read and will prepare you very well for boards.

Please be advised that though you may find the illustrations helpful and entertaining, some of descriptive pharmacology contains fatal errors. For example, on page 119:

"Cocaine can induce seizures as well as fatal cardiac arrythmias. IV diazepam and propanolol may be required to control cocaine-induced seizures and cardiac arrythmias."

Propanolol is CONTRAINDICATED in cocaine-induced cardiac arrythmias because of coronary artery vasoconstriction. Responsible health-care providers need to know this.

An excellent overview of commonly used drugs, organized meaningfully and with (generally) useful illustrations. I bought it for Step 1 board studying, but if you're in medical school, buy this your first year - it's an excellent reference and I wish I had had this when I was going through my core classes.

Lippincott Pharm is a fabulous book for medical students. It has the basics clearly outlined and nice tables to help you remember them. The text is brief and clear. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it is a bit dry and can be hard to get through.