Essentials of pharmacology for nurses

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If you are studying nursing pharmacology, a great way of understanding and memorizing the use and function of medication is to familiarize yourself with its generic name stem. Usually, drugs of the same therapeutic class are given names with the same stem. These stems are mostly placed word-finally (suffix), but in some cases, word-initial (prefix) stems are also used. UK nursing charities, including the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation, the Florence Nightingale Foundation and The Burdett Trust for Nursing, provide opportunities for leadership development and funding for innovative nurse-led projects aimed at enhancing patient care. Funded projects through the RCN foundation has led to initiatives to improve the support available to patients, particularly for those who face health inequalities. A new COVID-19 Support Fund has recently been announced by the RCN Foundation to support the nursing community during this challenging period. Other successful nurse-led projects include a national clinical network of homeless hospital discharge nurses, made possible by funding awarded by the Burdett Trust to Pathways, the UK’s leading homeless healthcare charity. COVID-19 presents a significant risk to the homeless, therefore the provision of nursing care to this community is a critical lifeline. It is essential that nurses and midwifes receive every support to protect themselves and continue to deliver care to the most vulnerable in our society. The text is easily divided into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course. The text is not overly self-referential and can be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader. In a clinical setting medication is normally dispensed using the generic name to avoid confusion, but because medications may come under a number of different names nurses must be able to identify the exact name and spelling so that the right medication is given. With every medication comes its dose range and form. With knowledge of pharmacology the nurse should know the correct dose, form (e. g. capsule, ointment, syrup) and frequency of a drug. This is vital for safe administration. The routes of drug administration fall into many major categories being oral, parenteral, inhalation and topical.

Care to take the challenge? This quiz aims to help students and registered nurses alike grasp and master the concepts of medication calculation. Topics and sub-topics in the text are present in a uniform manner throughout the book. With in the sub-topics you can also consistently find medication considerations throughout the lifespan. The book is comprehensive throughout. The glossary and index make it easy to find subject matter. Most of the general material that I typically cover in my pharmacology course is covered within this textbook, though some specifics are missing (i.e. Types of oral medications and definitions of different portions of the formulary or more examples of different drug types) Pharmacology is one of the most essential subjects in nursing school because nurses are the ones who dispense medicines to patients. Nurses are also the one who supervises how well the patient is tolerating certain medications. Easy to navigate, and having the content easily accessible from the web or ebook interface was even more helpful.

Brief Contents

The application of pharmacogenetic research by the pharmaceutical industry is likely to lead to more drugs that can be targeted at specific patients and diseases based on individual variations in genetic make-up. Research has already shown that patients with HIV experience varying degrees of hypersensitivity reactions to certain drugs directly as a consequence of genetic variations. Get to know the different types of intravenous solutions or IV fluids in this guide and cheat sheet. Excellent. Easy to follow, concise chapters with consistent layout. Adjunct modules and interactive learning activities truly seem to enhance the readings. Very nice physiology review at the beginning of each section.

The language and glossary helped the reader to have a clear understanding of the technical terminology in pharmacology. The table of content and organization of topics were clearly mapped out. The book was easy to read and understand specially for first year nursing students as well as advancing students in nursing. I felt this was well organized, with understanding the basics of pharmacology and then going more into direct drugs. The text is definitely designed for entry-level nursing students and covers fewer exemplars/drug classes than other texts I have utilized in pharmacology courses (missing immune modulators, contraceptives, chemotherapy agents, meds for OAB and BPH), but presents common drug classes in a concise and understandable way. The glossary and table of contents are excellent. The development and use of new drugs are also influenced by our understanding of the genetic basis of disease. With this understanding our ability to tailor therapy to based on individuals’ genetic make-up will increase.

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In the antidiabetic chapter only one brand of rapid insulin is shown which may be construed to endorse only one type of rapid insulin. That may be because it was the first one produced in the 1990s. This chapter needs much updating to include the new class of antibiabetic medications such as GLP1s and SGLT2s.

Reviewing the most up to date information, relevance to healthcare/nursing and medication information was accurate

The text is comprehensive and at an appropriate level for pre-licensure students. The glossary is excellent, as is the Table of Contents.

The consistency in the presentation of information in each chapter were formatted in the same way starting from learning objectives, introduction, basic concepts and principles, medication types, effects, considerations and safety in preparation and administration, module learning activities, interactive activities, critical thinking activities and a glossary. Answer keys were provided at the end of the book. References were evidenced-based and comprehensive. As new drugs are regularly introduced to the world it is important nurses continue their education, to keep up with the latest advances in pharmacology. As mentioned above in the five reasons of safe administering, monitoring adverse reactions, education, legal and ethical responsibilities, and the nurse practitioner, pharmacology knowledge plays a huge role. Without pharmacology knowledge patient’s lives are put at risk, and many more medication errors would occur hence its importance. References If a nurse does her patient the wrong way or has an inappropriate timing in giving medications, then that nurse will have problems with their nursing license and can even lose it if mistakes are big enough. It is crucial to learn pharmacology well so that nurses won’t make any severe mistake of administering meds during clinical rotations. Pharmacology’s Content The format of the chapters throughout the Nursing Pharmacology text are consistent. Chapter features, such as interactive activities include a consistent format and terminology. Recurrent natural disasters in countries such as Japan has even led to the establishment of a disaster-relief network of almost 10,000 nurses, who ensure care is delivered rapidly post-disaster to affected communities. The contribution nurses make as frontline responders for the provision of vital healthcare is priceless, and demand in primary healthcare will only increase as population health challenges grow. Support for nurses and midwifes has never been more necessary.The text was extremely easy to read and clear. The depth of the text content itself was toward surface level, but the critical thinking exercises helped for deeper thinking.