AHFS DI Essentials

The mission of AHFS Drug Information® is to provide an evidence-based foundation for safe and effective drug therapy. Widely trusted for its established record in refuting unfounded efficacy claims, its rigorous science-based editorial process, and its independence from the influence of pharmaceutical manufacturers, AHFS Drug Information® has remained true to its mission for over 50 years.

With the publication of AHFS DI® Essentials™, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) continues to build on that foundation by providing a resource that focuses on the essential, evidence-based information that will allow pharmacists, nurses, physicians, and other health-care providers to access quickly, in a straight-forward fashion, the specific guidance needed to safely and effectively prescribe and monitor drug therapy. Because it is derived from the authoritative AHFS DI®, the well-respected information development process, evidence analysis, and expert advice of authoritative reviewers are encapsulated and summarized in the new highly structured format of Essentials™.

AHFS DI® Essentials™ is designed to offer health professionals easy access to knowledge that is critical at the point of care. Essentials™ monographs draw on the meticulously evidence-based guidelines in the full AHFS DI® database, distilling for the health professional the essential information on prescription and key over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in an easy-to-use, highly structured outline format. Essentials™ is designed to be the first resource practitioners consult for fast answers at the point of care. AHFS DI® remains the compendium that offers insight into the evidence behind the answers.

In addition to expertly summarizing information from AHFS DI®, the Essentials™ provides components like compatibility tables, drug interactions tables, dosing tables, and advice to patients not found in AHFS DI®.

Although no longer available in print, AHFS DI® Essentials™ is still available electronically online through Stat!Ref and on PDA from Skyscape and Lexi-Comp. The current version contains over 200 more monographs than the last printed book.

Inside find:

• Expanded and revised content for 2008, including many new monographs
• Extensive off-label usages
• Expert advice and peer reviewed by over 500 medical scientists, physicians, spharmacists, pharmacologists, and other professionally qualified individuals
• Over 40,000 represented medicines and over 100,000 drug products
• Over 70,000 uniquely cited references
• New sections containing intravenous compatibility tables, drug interaction tables, and patient counseling pointers.

Monographs include: drug interactions; adverse reactions; cautions and toxicity; therapeutic perspective; specific dosage and administration information; preparations, chemistry, and stability; pharmacology and pharmacokinetics; contraindications; and more.

Click here (PDF) for a detailed description of the changes to AHFS Drug Information for the 2008 edition.