About Book
When we have been analyzing for the USMLE Step I (the “Boards”), we observed that there was once no single sufficient supply for the applicable pharmacology. Many assessment books have been too sparse and telegraphic and left many questions unanswered.
On the different hand, foremost pharmacology texts have been too verbose and special to use to find out about for the Boards. We consequently determined to gather our very own summaries of the vital drugs.
Our intention was once to create a reference work that emphasized the “high-yield” data however used to be additionally entire adequate to supply a conceptual framework for mastering instead than easy memorization.
We opted for an index card layout to permit for each an “active” fashion of flashcard reading and bendy organization. The tremendous use of PharmCards seeing that the first version used to be posted is pleasurable and tested the want for such a find out about aid.
In this fifth edition, we have redrawn the figures and introduced full colour to decorate their readability. We have extended the category playing cards to supply larger element on pills for diabetes, lipids, and hepatitis C.
We have maintained the grouping of drug playing cards through class (e.g., adrenergic, cholinergic, and so on) and then via type (e.g., α-agonists, α-antagonists, β-agonists, and so on) as we have acquired advantageous remarks that this shape enables evaluating and contrasting comparable agents.
Some capsules defy convenient classification; in these cases, we have located them the place we notion they would be most beneficial for study. Also word that some ailments are dealt with tablets that span drug classes (e.g., bronchial asthma and glaucoma). In these cases, we have listed on every card the identify and type of the different applicable tablets to deal with that disease.
Since the e-book of the fourth edition, there have been main advances in the discipline of pharmacology. A deeper grasp of the molecular mechanisms of disorder has led to exquisitely tailor-made pharmacotherapy. Combined angiotensin receptor-neurolysin inhibitors (ARNIs) for heart
failure, sodium glucose cotransporter two (SGLT2) inhibitors for diabetes, proprotein convertase subtilisin/Kexin kind 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors for hypercholesterolemia, and checkpoint inhibitors for most cancers remedy are a few examples of new or multiplied drug training that have been integrated into this fifth version of PharmCards.
A few phrases of advice:
1. Don’t be overwhelmed by way of the massive quantity of data contained in the cards. Frequently, grasp the mechanism of a drug and how that relates to the drug’s medical use and facet results is sufficient.
2. Concentrate on perception the predominant drug instructions earlier than diving into the sea of drug names. The category playing cards are designed to facilitate this approach.
3. Read via PharmCards quite a few instances earlier than making an attempt to memorize anything. This will supply your standpoint on what to memorize, and you may additionally be amazed by way of how lots you can recall besides resorting to rote memorization.
4. PharmCards are geared towards analyzing for the Boards, however they additionally consist of records that we observed in particular beneficial on the wards. We hope that their usefulness will prolong past that one fateful day of take a look at taking and that these playing cards may additionally serve as a rapid supply of statistics that bridges primary and scientific pharmacology on the wards.
We additionally thank the editorial and manufacturing staffs at Wolters Kluwer Health, such as Tim Rinehart for his assist in bringing this challenge to completion.
An undertaking of this magnitude requires a remarkable funding of time and energy, and we thank our better halves and households for being so supportive at some point of the process.
