Pharmacology Books

[amatomation]

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Does anyone have any solid suggestions for how to approach Pharm? Our class has just adopted a new text this year so we don't have any recommendations here. It's "Basic and Clinical Pharmacology" by Katzung. The old text which I have used before was "Principles of Pharmacology" by Golan et al. The latter was very phys-based in it's approach. Thanks.

 

[njbmd]

Does anyone have any solid suggestions for how to approach Pharm? Our class has just adopted a new text this year so we don't have any recommendations here. It's "Basic and Clinical Pharmacology" by Katzung. The old text which I have used before was "Principles of Pharmacology" by Golan et al. The latter was very phys-based in it's approach. Thanks.

Get yourself a copy of Pharmacology Recall. It has everything that you need and nothing that you do not need. Use it with Katzung. PR even has a Power Review in the back that is great for board review.

 

[Analyzethis]

Katzung and Trevor board review is an awsome book-lots of substance from the basic pharm katzung book but cuts out all the b.s-and still explains things that needs to be explained. Using pharm recall or even FA for a list of drugs to know and memorize is a good idea to use in conjunction. The book also has good tests at the end of each section with board type questions-I aced pharm 2nd year and on boards using this and really felt I understood it too.

 

[BlondeCookie]

What about Lippincott's Pharmacology by Harvey & Champe? Has anyone use that one?

 

[njbmd]

What about Lippincott's Pharmacology by Harvey & Champe? Has anyone use that one?

Dumped this one for Pharmacology Recall which isbetter organized and easier to read. Not a bad book but there are better ones out there and that Power Review in the back of Pharm Recall is priceless and USMLE Step I study time.

 

[amatomation]

Thanks for your help guys! I think I might get a hold of some flashcards as well. Johanssen look to be the most popular overall. There are of course BRS, Lange, Brenner, etc. Has anyone used these?

 

[mvenus929]

I was torn between starting a new thread and bumping this one, and opted to bump this one.

Pharm is taught very poorly at my school, so I'm looking for a good book to study for class (not Step 1 yet) so that I can at least understand the drugs. A lot of people in my class like Lippincotts, but I wanted to get some more opinions....

 

[kl323]

Lippincotts is too dense and too tedious for Step 1.

You might as well get a book to kill two birds with one stone (coursework and Step 1).

Pharm recall I heard is good for that (and stated before).

 

[RySerr21]

I was torn between starting a new thread and bumping this one, and opted to bump this one.

Pharm is taught very poorly at my school, so I'm looking for a good book to study for class (not Step 1 yet) so that I can at least understand the drugs. A lot of people in my class like Lippincotts, but I wanted to get some more opinions....

I studied Kaplan pharm for class. Seriously best book ever. If you read that book and watch their videos, you will know everything about pharm. When you first look at it seems impossible that it has everything you need to know, but it does. The videos with Dr Ramon integrate pharm w/ path, micro, etc and its seriously an awesome awesome way to learn the pharm.

 

[unsung]

Lippincotts is too dense and too tedious for Step 1.

You might as well get a book to kill two birds with one stone (coursework and Step 1).

Pharm recall I heard is good for that (and stated before).

I like Lippincott's. Admittedly, I have only read select chapters from it (haven't had the time to go through all of it). But it really explains the mechs well (NOT too detailed, imo).

I agree, it might be overkill for boards, specifically.

Though I do find myself "retaining" pharm better than a lot of my classmates... And that's probably because I spent more time understanding the drug *class*, as opposed to memorizing buzz words around each drug. So... if what you are searching for is long-term knowledge, Lippincott's is great.

I think it's worth it, if not for Step 1, for the wards. 'Cuz unlike some of the micro or anatomy details we're forced to learn, we WILL use pharm alllll the time once we're caring for patients.

It just feels good to have that knowledge pop right back up as I'm looking through a pt's drug list... otherwise, they would all just be words on a page, kwim?

Like I said, haven't had time to get through all of it... but I recommend the autonomics/CNS, etc. chapters.

The anti-microbials I still have problems with.. and that to me is more memorization. But all the nervous system stuff is quite logical, and worthwhile reading, imo.

 

[BlueElmo]

I really like Lippincott's as well. The pictures and diagrams are really helpful, and the texts aren't too dense either. I've given up using my syllabus for my current pharm course right now for Lippincott's. It's so much more efficient.

 

[PharmaTope]

katzung is a great book to be honest. i thought katzung made pharmacology easy for me. the diagrams and discussion of medication made it very easy to work with. however, i am a pharmacist.

 

[bruinhd]

katzung is a great book to be honest. i thought katzung made pharmacology easy for me. the diagrams and discussion of medication made it very easy to work with. however, i am a pharmacist.

I am finishing up M2 right now, and I had a very difficult and dense pharm course. Katzung and Trevor's light version (not the full book) was very good at simplifying information, and making it clear about what was important to know. They use a lot of charts and diagrams which I have never really used, but it is the same information presented several different ways for different types of learners.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that a lot of people in my class bought the Lippincott pharmacology initially for two reasons; it was much cheaper, and they were already familiar with how useful Lippincott Biochem was. However, most of them ended up ditching it and just using Katzung at some point during the course.

 

[engineeredout]

Our pharm department is an absolute disgrace. Nobody learns a damn thing. We can pass the exams sure, but get nothing out of it.

Kaplan Pharm Videos = Money. They single handedly turned pharm from being my most dreaded course for Step 1 into something I feel like I can nail. I've also understood so many drugs and side effects that were just never taught to us at all, its great. Once you understand why an odd side effect occurs with a particular drug, you're more apt to learn it.

I only wish I knew about these videos during 1st year.

 

[katarina90]

Hey I'm not much of a video person, but does anyone have Rapid Review Pharm or Road Map Pharm? Like the OP, I'm talking more for studying-for-class purposes than for boards.

I've found in general that BRS books are good for class while HY seems to be more for a board review. I previewed Lippincott's online (amazon) and have to agree that it just looks like too much stuff for a review book.

 

[absolutjag9]

like ryserr21, i too utilized kaplan pharm for my school's pharm class (ours was 2 months long :O ). raymon is the man-im in the middle of taking a kaplan live lecture course and sadly he couldn't show to our review course...but the videos of him are priceless...