Pharmacology for the Primary Care Provider

Written by and for nurse practitioners, this practical textbook focuses on what primary care providers need to learn and practice drug therapy. With an overall emphasis on patient teaching and health promotion, you will learn how to provide effective patient teaching about medications and how to gain patient compliance. Drug coverage focuses on “key drugs” rather than “prototype drugs,” so you can find important information about the most commonly used drugs rather than the first drug in each class. You will also find discussions on the legal and professional issues unique to nurse practitioners and other primary care providers. The 3rd edition also features an expanded emphasis on established clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based practice, plus two new chapters that cover drugs for ADHD and drugs for dementia.

Key Features

UNIQUE! Written specifically for nurse practitioners with an overall emphasis on patient teaching and health promotion.
UNIQUE! Covers specific topics such as prescriptive authority, role implementation, and writing prescriptions.
Presents comprehensive coverage of the drugs most commonly prescribed in – and the issues most relevant to – primary care practice.
UNIQUE! Identifies the Top 200 drugs in chapter openers with a special icon and covers them in-depth to familiarize you with the most important, need-to-know drug information.
Uses a consistent heading scheme for each prototype drug discussion to make it easier to learn and understand key concepts.
Includes an introductory chapter on “Design and Implementation of Patient Education” that highlights content on patient teaching and compliance.
Includes specific “Patient Education” sections in each drug chapter.
Provides extensive coverage of drug therapy for special populations to alert you to special considerations based on age, pregnancy, race and other factors.
A separate chapter on “Complementary and Alternative Therapies” discusses the available complementary and alternative modalities, including detailed information on actions, uses, and interactions of commonly used herbs.
Drug Overview tables at the beginning of each chapter outline the classifications of drugs discussed and provide a handy reference of drug classes and subclasses, generic names, and trade names.
Clinical Alerts highlight essential information that primary care providers must remember in order to avoid serious problems, including cautions for prescribing, information about drug interactions, or warnings about particularly ominous adverse effects.
An entire unit covers drugs for health promotion to introduce you to drugs commonly seen in outpatient primary care settings and to prepare you for practice in a society increasingly focused on health promotion and disease prevention.
Includes separate chapters on Immunizations and Biologicals, Weight Management, Smoking Cessation, Vitamins and Minerals, Over-the-Counter Medications, and Complementary and Alternative Therapies.

New to this Edition

Drug coverage focuses on “key drugs” rather than “prototype drugs,” since prototype drugs are technically the first drug in a given class but not always the best, newest, or most commonly prescribed drug.
Separate chapter on “Treatment Guidelines and Evidence-Based Decision-Making” provides practical guidelines for using the current best evidence to make decisions about the care of individual patients.
All content extensively reviewed by a PharmD consultant to ensure the most accurate, current, and clinically relevant pharmacology content.
Includes separate chapters on drugs to treat ADHD and dementia in order to expand on the current treatments available for these two common conditions.

Contents
PART ONE - ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS FOR THE PRESCRIPTION OF MEDICATIONS
Unit 1: Foundations of Prescriptive Practice
1. Prescriptive Authority and Role Implementation: Tradition vs. Change
2. Historical Review of Prescriptive Authority: The Role of Nurses (NPs, CNMs, CRNAs, and CNSs) and Physician Assistants

Unit 2: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
3. General Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Principles
4. Special Populations: Geriatrics
5. Special Populations: Pediatrics
6. Special Populations: Pregnant and Nursing Women

Unit 3: The Art and Science of Pharmacotherapeutics
7. Establishing the Therapeutic Relationship
8. Practical Tips on Writing Prescriptions
9. Treatment Guidelines and Evidence-Based Decision Making
10. Design and Implementation of Patient Education

PART TWO - DRUG MONOGRAPHS
Unit 4: Topical Agents
11. Dermatologic Agents
12. Eye, Ear, Throat, and Mouth Agents

Unit 5: Respiratory Agents
13. Upper Respiratory Agents
14. Asthma and COPD Medications

Unit 6: Cardiovascular Agents
15. Hypertension and Miscellaneous Antihypertensive Medications
16. Coronary Artery Disease and Antianginal Medications
17. Chronic Heart Failure and Digoxin
18. â-Blockers
19. Calcium Channel Blockers
20. ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers
21. Antiarrhythmic Agents
22. Antihyperlipidemic Agents
23. Agents that Act on Blood

Unit 7: Gastrointestinal Agents
24. Antacids and the Management of GERD
25. Histamine-2 Blockers and Proton Pump Inhibitors
26. Laxatives
27. Antidiarrheals
28. Antiemetics
29. Medications for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Other Gastrointestinal Problems

Unit 8: Renal/Genitourinary Agents
30. Diuretics
31. Male Genitourinary Agents
32. Agents for Urinary Incontinence and Urinary Analgesia

Unit 9: Musculoskeletal Agents
33. Acetaminophen
34. Aspirin and Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Medications
35. Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Medications and Immune Modulators
36. Gout Medications
37. Osteoporosis Treatment
38. Muscle Relaxants

Unit 10: Central Nervous System Agents
39. Overview of the Nervous System
40. Medications for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
41. Medications for Dementia
42. Analgesia and Pain Management
43. Migraine Medications
44. Anticonvulsants
45. Antiparkinson Agents

Unit 11: Psychotropic Agents
46. Antidepressants
47. Antianxiety and Insomnia Agents
48. Antipsychotics
49. Substance Abuse

Unit 12: Endocrine Agents
50. Glucocorticoids
51. Thyroid Medications
52. Diabetes Mellitus Agents

Unit 13: Female Reproductive System Medications
53. Contraceptives
54. Menopause Hormone Therapy
55. Agents Used in Treating Breast Cancer

Unit 14: Antiinfectives
56. Principles for Prescribing Antiinfectives
57. Treatment of Specific Infections and Miscellaneous Antibiotics
58. Penicillins
59. Cephalosporins
60. Tetracyclines
61. Macrolides
62. Fluoroquinolones
63. Aminoglycosides
64. Sulfonamides
65. Antitubercular Agents
66. Antifungals
67. The Immune System and Antiretroviral Medications
68. Antiviral and Antiprotozoal Agents

Unit 15: Health Promotion
69. Immunizations and Biologicals
70. Weight Management
71. Smoking Cessation
72. Vitamins and Minerals
73. Over-the-Counter Medications
74. Complementary and Alternative Therapies

Appendix
Economic Foundations of Prescriptive Authority.


Author Information
By Marilyn Winterton Edmunds, PhD, ANP/GNP, Adjunct Faculty, Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD; and Maren Stewart Mayhew, MS, ANP/GNP, Nurse Practitioner, Private Practice, Bethesda, MD.