Symptoms in the Pharmacy

Book excerpt: Symptoms in the Pharmacy presents a guide to the management of common symptoms seen in the pharmacy, with advice from an author team that includes both pharmacists and GPs. With the continued emphasis on the pharmacist's role as a 'first port of call' in response to symptoms, the need for effective communication and interpersonal skills remains paramount. This book provides the pharmacist with the appropriate techniques for gathering information to meet the needs of patient safety in a way that is acceptable to the public. Case studies and comments from the pharmacist's and doctor's perspective are included throughout. This is now the fifth edition of Symptoms in the Pharmacy. The text has been fully revised to reflect the latest 'prescription only medicine' to 'pharmacy medicine' switches. Changes in medicine use, cautions and contraindications where recent evidence has shown new safety concerns are also covered. Similarly, where new evidence has shown treatments to be less effective and thus superseded, they have been removed. Reviewer: A reader from Bradford UK This book is an excellent guide for either trainee or newly qualified pharmacists. It covers most ailments which may be encountered on a daily basis in the community pharmacy and describes features of more serious underlying disease to aid diagnosis or referral. It is well presented and clearly laid out with separate chapters for each ailment. At the end of each chapter are example case studies giving in summary both the view of a pharmacist and medical doctor for each condition. My only criticism is that there are no illustrations or diagrams which I feel would have been helpful when describing clinical features of some conditions. Nonetheless there are clear descriptions of each ailment, highlighting symptoms, possible causes and most appropriate treatments. Importantly it gives clear guidelines on when to refer presenting ailments to a doctor. It is comparable in style to the title Minor Illness or Major Disease, however this title is illustrated with photographs of illness to aid recognition. A useful guide for all student pharmacists, preregistration pharmacists and possibly newly qualified pharmacists.