The Top 100 Drugs
Clinical pharmacology and practical prescribing
First Edition
By A. Hitchings, D. Lonsdale, D. Burrage, E. Baker.
2015
Link: Second edition
The goal of picking only 100 drugs to promote is actually quite an ambitious one. Some would argue that this is a pointless exercise or an arbitrary target, but personally I find the idea of a top 100 list appealing. A strong mastery of the 100 most common and important drugs would form a powerful starting point for a career of prescribing. This list is insufficient for a competent modern doctor, but good knowledge about the drugs listed is necessary.
I actually did count the drugs and listed them below. As you can see, it's not truly 100 individual drugs, but rather 100 classes of drugs. This is more useful than 100 individual drugs because each drug class can contain many drugs, with nearly identical side-effect profiles, mechanisms of action, etc. Some drugs are listed in more than one of these 100 drug classes.
The list of the "top 100" did not include the most important and commononly prescribed drugs: fluids. Thankfully, the top 5 fluids were included in 10 pages following the 200 page list.
Each drug class is presented in 2 pages, one for clinical pharmacology and one for practical prescribing. Indications, mechanisms of action, important adverse effects, warnings (contraindications), important interactions are all covered. The practical prescribing page is an interesting feature, because it provides advice which would make the life of a foundation year 1 (FY1) doctor easier.
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