Which drug handbook do you suggest?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Military training, mostly med surg..

Hi..i am starting a nurse refresher course in May and I will need a drug handbook...just wondering which you would suggest!?

thanks for your help!

Specializes in Acute post op ortho.
http://www.epocrates.com/
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

The best IV medication one is by far by Betty Gahart....it only has IV medications and IVF...that thing is my bible. You really will need something specific to IVs and since the IV route is the most direct and rapid acting...you need to know what you are doing......every yr there is an updated version

Specializes in ER.

The best Drug book is the davis drug guide for nurses or the lexis-nexis series. either way you will be covered

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I like Davis and Gahart, and have both of them on my Palm. I use them all the time.

Davis is great, but if you're already a nurse, see if your hospital has access to Micromedex. I've found it to be way more useful than Davis during clinicals. Most places with a strong electronic system online have it.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

The only thing on Micromedex that I use is the IV compatibility checker. It's quicker than looking it up on my Palm.

There are so many different printed versions available now. I would suggest you look through them at any major bookstore and pick the one that appeals to you. I started out with the Springhouse Nursing .... one when I was in school and have stayed with it. Lots of people like the Davis book.

Anything by Mosby is wonderful, I absolutely swear by mine, and that is what my instructor and fellow classmates (who are farther on in the program) recommended to me :)

Specializes in Acute post op ortho.

The thing I dislike about the print version is, by the time they hit the shelves, they're outdated. Most programs out there update new info on a weekly basis, so you always have access to the latest info.....new drugs, newly discovered interactions, adverse reactions, warnings, that sort of thing.

I always had to pay for my own subscription, it's good to hear that hospitals are providing this service for their nurses, It's important to be up to date.

I would suggest "Nurse's Drug Handbook by Spratto and Woods. I like its presentation of drug action and nursing action/implication. You can also download the online version to your PDA. They also discussed the medications according to classification. It helps me learn more about medication studying it per classification rather than one by one. Good luck

Mosbys

+ Add a Comment