Community Pharmacy: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

By Paul Rutter

Pharmacy students and pharmacists need to be able to identify common conditions, to distinguish them from other, less common ones, to recommend appropriate medications or to suggest referral to a doctor. To do this accurately, they need to understand which conditions are most likely to present in the pharmacy, to have an understanding of epidemiological data and signs and symptoms, and to be able to make a simple 'differential diagnosis' in the pharmacy.

This new textbook provides a comprehensive, clearly structured and well-illustrated guide to differential diagnosis of symptoms that are commonly seen by the community pharmacist. Organised mainly by body system, each chapter begins with an overview of the system and a brief guide to history taking; then each symptom or condition is examined under the following headings: background, prevalence, aetiology, arriving at a differential diagnosis, questions to ask the patient, conditions to eliminate. The book also contains some unique features, such as algorithms to aid in diagnosis, summary tables on what questions should be asked and why, and lists of further reading and useful websites.Comprehensive - covers all the most common conditions and gives the evidence to back-up OTC (over-the-counter) recommendations Well-structured presentation including some features unique to this book: Prevalence/epidemiology section for each condition that puts the presenting symptom into the primary care contextArriving at a differential diagnosis - what questions to ask to narrow down the possible diagnosesPrimers for differential diagnosis - schematic representations of how to arrive at a diagnosis for certain conditionsEvidence base for OTC medication - to help the reader understand what does and does not work from an evidence-based perspectivePractical prescribing summary tables that cover key issues to be aware of when recommending certain productsHints and tips boxes that give practical advice on how to use products - for example, how to administer eye drops Self-assessment sections, including MCQs, review questions and case studies Full-colour layout with colour pictures of important conditions

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0443073627
• ISBN13: 9780443073625
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Churchill Livingstone
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 0.8" x 7.8"