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A systematized listing of drugs according to their primary actions, mechanisms, chemical nature, clinical uses and/or other relevant characteristics is the first step to learn about them. The mental exercise to prescribe a drug for a patient starts with identifying the class of drugs to be prescribed and then selecting the specific member most appropriate for that patient according to its subclass/group/individual characteristic. For example, the first thing one decides is whether an analgesic or an antihypertensive or an antibiotic is to be prescribed; then proceeds to consider which type of analgesic (opioid/nonopioid), or antihypertensive (ß blocker/ACE inhibitor, etc.), or antibiotic (ß-lactam/fluoroquinolone, etc.) is required and then which specific member is most suitable. On the other hand, every drug is known by its class and subclass, e.g. furosemide is a high-ceiling diuretic, glibenclamide is a sulfonylurea antidiabetic. As such, drug classifications are pivotal to pharmacology students and highly valuable to prescribing doctors. The phenomenal increase in the number of drugs in recent years has further underscored the need for drug classifications.
Drug classifications have been criticised for being arbitrary and imperfect because of nonuniform criteria that have often to be adopted and frequent lack of watertight distinctions among drug groups/subgroups. Nevertheless, basing on pharmacological differences and applying practical criteria, meaningful drug classifications can be devised. Though, any drug has multiple actions/properties, it can be designated by the most outstanding one. For example, labelling atenolol as a cardioselective ß blocker summarises its actions, uses, etc. This booklet has adopted such a pragmatic approach and presented classifications of drugs that have been well accepted. The outstanding feature of the present edition is reformating of the classifications in the form of eye-catching charts. These charts create pictorial images and help memorizing. All classifications have been updated, modified where necessary and newer drugs have been included, particularly those marketed recently.ISBN - 9789351521082
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Pages : 226
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