Now in its second edition, this guide is aimed primarily at nurses, allied health professionals, and medical students. The over 4,100 entries cover prescription, pharmacy and over the counter products. The dictionary aims to provide “a clear guide to the wide range of medicines available today” as well as “a comprehensive and up‐to‐date guide to medicines and their effects”, and it succeeds in its aim extremely well.
A typical entry includes drug name and class, e.g. antiviral, a short description, some of the main conditions indicating this drug's use, information about side effects and precautions and details of interactions with other drugs. The title of each main entry is in bold; subheadings are given in bold italics, making it very easy to identify the section needed. An asterisk indicates a cross‐reference to another entry within the directory. Entries include both generic names, e.g. Fluoxetine and proprietary names, e.g. Prozac; and interactions covered, which for fluoxetine include antiepileptics or antipsychotics as well as specific drugs such as Rasagiline and Tamoxifen. Where a brand or proprietary name is given, entries also include the name of the owning or developing company in brackets, e.g. Panadol Night (GlaxoSmithKline).
The dictionary also includes information on items that we may not traditionally associate with medicines, but which nevertheless contain medicinal compounds: such as Ambre Solaire and Rinstead Sugar‐Free Pastilles. There is also coverage of terms used in prescribing medicines and in medicine in general, such as angina, finasteride and stoma. The dictionary also incorporates an appendix covering medicines containing aspirin and paracetamol; where preparations include other active ingredients, such as caffeine, this is also noted. The form of the preparation, tablet, powder, liquid or type of tablet, is also given. There is a useful list of common abbreviations, such as BNF for British National Formulary and p.c. for post cibum (after food).
Generic names of medicines used in Britain have recently been standardized to accord with the Recommended International Non‐proprietary Names (rINNs) required by European law, making new British Approved Names (BANs). If the former and new BANs are very different, an entry refers the reader to the new name, e.g. “amethocaine See TETRACAINE”. Other appendices give the new BANs for a range of drugs, including changes in spelling: amoxicillin becomes amoxicillin, and riboflavine becomes riboflavin. There are tables for SI units and other measurements, including how to convert feet to metres and centimetres to inches, amongst others. Other features of the directory include detailed tables on HRT and oral contraceptives.
The dictionary is arranged in a single alphabetical list; as well as page numbers at the top of the page, there is a tabbed letter marked on the paper side of the spine, making it very easy to navigate. A small number of useful web links are also included as the final appendix, linked from www.oup.com/uk/reference/resources/medicinaldrugs
This dictionary offers a very sound starting point for medicinal drug information, with very little unexplained jargon. As ever with this range of Oxford dictionaries, it represents excellent value for money and would be a valuable addition to many libraries and personal bookshelves.
