Drug Guide for Critical Care and Emergency Nursing A.H. Vallerand, & J.H. Deglin Phila.: F. A. Davis Co. 1990, 470 pp., $24.95
This is a practical book, succinct and well-written. It contains the majority of medications that are used daily in an emergency room (ER) setting. 1 believe it would be more useful as a reference manual, rather than as a tool for continuing education. Most experienced ER nurses will be knowledgeable of these drugs, however, and will not routinely need to look them up.
I do believe that this book would facilitate the entry of a new nurse into the fast pace of the ER setting where it is important to be knowledgeable of the medications. The material on antidotes and infusion tables, however, could be used on a daily basis. Posted on a wall in a trauma room, or in the medication room of an intensive care unit, this material would be a simple tool that would save time in calculations. Finally, there was one omission in the text - Anectin (succinylcholine chloride) is not mentioned.