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Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Associate Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Knoxville Campus, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, TN.
Published Online, February 20, 2007. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1H264
Format: The printed book contains 135 chapters, 38 monographs on antidotes, and an index. Additional Internet-based resources include case studies with questions and answers, self-assessment quizzes with answers (10 questions per chapter), and an image library of approximately 84 pictures related to clinical toxicology.
Audience: This text's intended audience includes healthcare providers involved in the management of patients with toxicologic problems, students and postgraduate residents learning both the basics and the complexities of clinical toxicology, and educators teaching clinical toxicology in the classroom or at the bedside.
Purpose: Although not stated in the preface, the purpose of the book ostensibly is to provide a comprehensive discussion of commonly encountered clinical toxicology issues to be used for patient care, education, and clinical research.
Content: Chapters are arranged by category and are based on historical trends; general approaches to the poisoned patient; biochemical, molecular, and pathophysiologic foundations of clinical toxicology; toxicologic agents or classes discussed in depth (approximately 95); antidote monographs (38); and epidemiologic and preventive issues.
Usability: The chapters are generally well written and well edited. There is consistency in format and writing style among the numerous authors, as should be expected in a book in its 8th edition. Registration for the Web site was straightforward and access was simple.
Highlights: The strength of this book is its rigorous effort to provide a comprehensive and contemporary discussion of the topic of each chapter. The book is edited by 6 practicing clinical toxicologists, and the chapters are written by approximately 135 authors of various disciplines and professions. The depth of information clearly establishes that the authors know the clinical issues, pharmacologic basis, and pathophysiologic principles of the topic under discussion. The case discussions and images on the Web site are valuable learning aids.
Limitations: The only obvious shortcoming of this book is its attempt to be a teaching tool in addition to an excellent reference book. To achieve the same level of excellence in the teaching arena, I suggest that, in the future, the editors consider devoting more attention to developing educational objectives, highlighting essential or key concepts, and writing better self-assessment test questions. More questions should be focused on decision-making or problem solving and less on factual information or esoteric minutiae. This book may be too expensive for the infrequent reader or student.
Comparison with Previous Edition: After 8 editions, the writing has matured and the content has been developed to make this an excellent reference text. Also, in this edition, the editors chose to reassign many of the authors to provide new perspectives. Although there are approximately 190 fewer pages in this edition than in the previous edition, it contains 90 more pages of actual text. By moving the case studies and self-assessment quizzes to the Web site, the editors were able to devote more pages to toxicology information.
Comparison with Other Related Books: There are approximately 5 other texts on clinical toxicology in the US market, but none beats Goldfrank's in scope, depth, features, readability, and up-to-date information.
Reviewer's Summary: This is a comprehensive, up-to-date reference book on the management of poisoned and overdosed patients and should be considered a standard text for medical libraries, emergency departments, critical care units, and clinical pharmacy collections. Practicing clinical toxicologists and poison control centers likely will already have this edition.
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