whats the gold standard pharmacology text

[tega]

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apart from Lippincotts ....i need a real text book, since i dont plan on attending any lectures.

thanks.

 

[kcrd]

I don't know if it is the "gold standard," but the assigned text for my class was the Katzung text which Lange publishes - "Basic and Clinical Pharmacology". It is a big, fat, soft-cover textbook (not the Katzung usmle review).

 

[tega]

Originally posted by kcrd
I don't know if it is the "gold standard," but the assigned text for my class was the Katzung text which Lange publishes - "Basic and Clinical Pharmacology". It is a big, fat, soft-cover textbook (not the Katzung usmle review).

yikes....i heard about that, its a 1000+ pages...i dont know if i can handle that...i need something in the 500-800 range.

And the text in langes are usually small....and dense...makes reading quite difficult.

 

[edfig99]

lippincott was good enough for me, though my faculty had recommended the Appleton and Lange Katzung as well. You won't need to read the whole thing because not everything in it will be covered in med school....so don't let the # of pages scare you...the alternative would be to read the bible of pharmacology - Goodman and Gilman's Pharmacologic Basis of Therapeutics or something like that....which is bigger, heavier, more expensive and equally overkill for med school.

-ed

 

[Fermi]

I actually think Lippincott in addition to your pharm coursebook (if you get one) and maybe PharmCards would be fine. I didn't use Katzung all that much, but it is a pretty good reference for drug classes, mechanisms, etc. I wouldn't buy Goodman & Gilman because it's like $125 and it will certainly be outdated before you'll even read a fraction of it.

 

[doepug]

To answer Fermi's point, any textbook you buy will be outdated by the time you read it. That being said, the undisputed gold standard textbook for pharmacology is Goodman and Gilman.

Goodman and Gilman is a great reference guide and is definitely the gold standard for the field, but I'm not sure it would be the best textbook for a course. If you're looking for a solid book for learning pharm, check out something lighter like the other posters have suggested.

Cheers,
doepug

 

[ItsGavinC]

Another vote for Goodman and Gilman being the gold standard, or Bible, of Pharm.

 

[souljah1]

I have my bias. Katzung taught us in pharm in our first year organ blocks and he is a really great guy who devotes quite a lot of time to students. His board review book is really helpful. His big phat textbook has absolutely everything you'd like (and not like) to know about drugs and it is laid out pretty well. Tons of detail and a lot of info on mechanisms, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics. He writes a lot of the USMLE board questions, so I'd definitely recommend getting his board review book.

 

[edfig99]

G&G is nice...but it's more of a reference text. my copy is on my shelf, outdated and collecting dust, as are most of my other books. I definitely say Lippincott's and class notes, and if you need anything above that, Katzung...any Katzung... Of course, most of memories of med school are a little hazy...i don't remember reading much of anything in med school...I just used whatever was offered on-line for free. Money's tight and ya gotta choose your texts wisely.

 

[8744]

Lippencott's is all you will ever need for a textbook. it is detailed enough, has pretty good diagrams, and is well organized.

I cannot fathom why any medical student would want to wade through the deadening prose of a big-time pharmacology textbook.

Keep in mind that it is better to have a good handle on a limited amount of useful information then to have a sketchy grasp of volumes of trivia.

Additionally, get Epocrates and a Sanford Guide for your PDA. You will not regret it.

I also have "Five-minute Clinical Consult" which I use a lot.

 

[doepug]

Originally posted by Panda Bear
Lippencott's is all you will ever need for a textbook. it is detailed enough, has pretty good diagrams, and is well organized.

I cannot fathom why any medical student would want to wade through the deadening prose of a big-time pharmacology textbook.

Lippincott's would have been horribly insufficient for my pharm course. We were expected to know quite a bit that just wasn't in Lippincott's. It's a great board review book, but if you're going to miss out on lectures, it is unlikely to contain everything you'll need to know to do well in your pharm course.

 

[southerndoc]

My school required us to read G&G. It was our primary pharm text. However, our pharm was split up over 2 years (PBL school), so it was easier to read.

If your course is a 4-6-week dedicated pharm course, then G&G will probably be too much to read.

 

[Renovar]

G&G is definitely the gold standard, the same way Harrison's is for medicine and Sabiston's is for surgery.

But forget about it if you are using it to study your MS2 pharm course or the boards.

Good books for these purpose are linpincotts, kaztung and BRS. One or two of those 3 will be enough to explain concepts that you dont get. After that, it's all about memorize everything on your lecture notes, and then Pretest yourself to death a week before your test. Then you'll be fine.

 

[8744]

Hmm. Somehow I have manged to get through the first two years of medical school without actually memorizing a whole lot of stuff. Or rather I rarely sit down with a list of things and consciously memorize. (And I got a decent but not stupendously high Step 1 score.)

You guys are just too intense.

Practically, I can't see how you will ever need anything more then Lippencotts for 99.99% of questions asked on the boards, most practice exams, and all of the pharm exams in our curriculum. This could just be my ignorance talking here.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by edfig99
G&G is nice...but it's more of a reference text. my copy is on my shelf, outdated ...

All pharm books are outdated after about a year.