Patient Care Management Lab: A Workbook for Prescription Practice

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Summer 2002 by Whitney, Joanne

RICHARD FINKEL. Patient Care Management Lab: A Workbook for Prescription Practice. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002. vii 397 pp., $39.95.

This book was written for a course in which students interpret prescriptions, check patient profiles for accuracy, appropriateness and compatibility, label and fill prescriptions and provide counseling. It is divided into 10 chapters, each dealing with a specific disease state, patient population or drug category. Cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, ophthalmic and psychiatric drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy, pain control, geriatrics, diabetes and lung, liver, and genitourinary disorders are covered. Each chapter is introduced with succinct objectives, a list of drugs in the exercise and "hot points" containing important indications, interactions and monitoring parameters of the drugs. There is a section of extensive questions regarding the drugs and related disease states that students must answer before each lab. The bulk of the book consists of patient profiles (15 -25 for each chapter) and prescriptions pertaining to each. Blank prescriptions are included in some of the chapters so the instructor may compose his own problem prescriptions. There is an appendix with numerous supplemental prescriptions and significant abbreviations.

The patient profiles contain the patient's age, gender, allergies, approximate weight and major diagnoses as well as a list of medications with directions for use, prescriber, original fill date and refill history. The prescriptions that accompany the profiles contain the prescriber's name and address, medication, directions for use, strength, amount, patient's age and conform to pharmacy legal requirements except in examples where there may be a problem with the prescription.

Examining the correctness of the prescription and attempting to sort out problems related to the patient's profile is both instructive and great fun. Much thought and effort has gone into the arrangement of these prescriptions, which are adapted from actual prescriptions collected by the author. The book would be invaluable for anyone presenting or contemplating a similar course. It would also be very useful for students participating in patient counseling competitions or for students preparing for board examinations. The cost makes it unlikely that the book could be used as part of a broader based pharmacy practice course. It would, however, make an excellent self-study elective, omitting the dispensing component.

Unfortunately, the physical layout of the book is very poor. The pages are 8.5 inches long and 11 inches wide making it bulky and hard to carry. Opened, it would probably fill up all the counter space in which the student is attempting to fill the prescription. Also, the book is bound with a flimsy metal ring binder. My copy started falling apart before I reached page 20.

Joanne Whitney University of California, San Francisco