Drug Facts and Comparisons 2009 by Facts & Comparisons

From the Publisher

Drug Facts and Comparisons contains up-to-date, comprehensive information on over 22,000 Rx and 6,000 OTC items grouped by therapeutic category for ease of comparison. The book answers questions about actions, indications and contraindications; warnings and precautions; interactions between drugs; adverse reactions; administration, dosage, and overdosage; and patient information. Comparisons provided include drug to drug; different dosage forms; name brands are compared to name brands and to generics. Facts and Comparisons are also given on Centers for Disease Control biologicals and antiparasitic drugs; IV solutions; therapeutic and diagnostic ophthalmic preparations; diagnostic aids and radiographic contrast media and products; NCI investigational chemotherapeutic drugs; and combination cancer chemotherapy regimens. This hardbound edition includes the Drug Identifier 2009 CD-ROM, the premier tool for correct drug identification. Ensure accuracy by searching through more than 5,000 color images in seconds. Search by drug name, imprint, NDC code, color, shape, manufacturer, coating, scoring, clarity, and flavor.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Patrick J. McDonnell, PharmD (Temple University School of Pharmacy)
Description:This is the 2009 annual bound edition of one of the quintessential drug reference books serving the needs of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. It is also available as a monthly updated subscription.
Purpose:In my experience as a pharmacist and pharmacy educator, I cannot think of any pharmacist, or pharmacy for that matter, who has not relied on Drugs Facts and Comparisons. This version comes with a CD-ROM.
Audience:The audience is primarily pharmacists, but other healthcare professionals would find this easy to use and valuable.
Features:This reference groups unbiased drug monographs by therapeutic drug classes. General information on closely related drugs in a class may have a comprehensive monograph, with the individual agents having specific drug information. Information in the drug monographs includes indications, dosing, mechanism of action, contraindications, warnings and precautions, drug interactions, adverse reactions, overdosage information, and essential patient information for self administration of the drug. Also included are off-label uses with supporting documentation. The "Keeping Up" section notes the latest developments in drug therapy. An alphabetical index is easy to use and includes generic and brand names of drugs, synonyms, common abbreviations, and therapeutic group names. Canadian drug trade names are also available. With the bound edition, the only shortcoming is that monthly updates are not available as they are with the subscriptionversion.
Assessment:Respected and user friendly are two ways to describe Drugs Facts and Comparisons. It is more user friendly than the Physician's Desk Reference. A new edition is published each year and, to keep up with technology, the accompanying CD-ROM, as one of my colleagues stated, "is the best of both worlds."

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