Book review

Practical disease state management for pharmacists. Case studies on medication and disease state management
selected and updated from the Australian Journal of Pharmacy Counselling Casebook
Jenny Gowan and Louis Roller
ISBN 0-9580664-1-8
2004
Australian Pharmaceutical Publishing Company, Fyshwick.

Practising pharmacists are expected to keep up-to-date with the most current treatments of diseases in order to be able to offer competent advice for patients and other healthcare professionals. Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists has been written to support pharmacy students, pre-registration pharmacists and practising pharmacists with their work in patient care. Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists is an anthology of 43 revised and updated cases, comprising articles and patient scenarios, published in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy since 2000.                                                                                                                                                                 Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists comprises ten sections: central nervous system; cardiovascular; endocrine; gastrointestinal; infection; musculoskeletal; over-the-counter medicines; respiratory;
behavioural aspects; and miscellaneous cases. The cases take into account the many ills of the developed world, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and asthma.

The well-written cases begin with an article describing the relevant disease, its aetiology, prevalence and incidence, potential causes and risk factors, symptoms, and monitoring. The treatment of the disease is discussed both from pharmacological and non-pharmacological point of view. Since Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists has been written for Australian pharmacists the advice on disease treatment follow Australian Therapeutic
Guidelines which may differ from guidelines used in other countries potentially limiting the usefulness of this book for the international readership. However, details of these relevant guidelines are given and could be used in comparison with others.

The authors Jenny Gowan and Louis Roller have experience in medication management services. Throughout the book, emphasis is given for medication reviews highlighting the need for pharmacists’ expertise in a world where polypharmacy is common. In Australia community pharmacists may be accredited and contracted to conduct home medicines reviews with the aim, as the authors put it, “to maximise an individual’s benefit from their medication

regimen and to prevent medication related problems through a team approach, involving the consumer’s general practitioner and preferred community pharmacy with the consumer as the central focus”. Hence, much thought has been devoted to how to counsel patients as part of the cases. Additionally, separate cases discuss adherence to medication, drug interactions, adverse effects and risk management in general.

Helpful tables with diagnostic criteria, causes, signs and symptoms of the disease, guides on drug and nondrug

treatment of the disease accompany the cases. What’smore, sometimes information is given on drugs that may cause or aggravate the disease.                                                                                                                                                                                          The scenarios introduce a patient, their medical history, current medications and medication related issues. The reader is then guided through the important issues, interventions or advice required to optimise the patient’s treatment. As the authors have expertise in developing continuing professional education programmes for pharmacists, the cases conclude with a series of multiple choice questions on the disease and its treatment for self-assessment. The answers are provided at the back of the book.

The cases in Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists give food for thought and could be used to inform how to support patients and other healthcare professionals not only in the specific situations discussed in the book, but also in other situations. The book can be recommended to be used in teaching pharmacy practice at undergraduate level. However, as the book has been written for a broad audience, from student to practising pharmacist, a reader looking for more specific and in-depth information is advised to look up the references used in writing the cases. Many sources have an Australian twist but also included are journals such as JAMA, BMJ, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

Jenny Gowan  and Louis Roller are currently working on a second edition of Practical Disease State Management for Pharmacists, which will be updated, expanded and recommended for a wider audience of healthcare professionals.

Raisa Laaksonen
Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice
Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
University of Bath