Book excerpt: Pharmacology for the Health Care Professions is an accessible introduction to the pharmacology necessary for health care professionals training to be non-medical prescribers looking for an overview of the subject. The book covers the pharmacology necessary for accredited training programmes in non-medical prescribing and certification in access and supply of prescription-only medicines and will be useful as an ongoing reference for future use in practice. Opening with a general introduction to pharmacology as a science, the book goes on to explain what is meant by drugs and medicines and why pharmacology should be of relevance to health care professionals. The reader is presented with general principles of pharmacology followed by systemic pharmacology that covers the actions of important groups of drugs in common use to treat diseases and conditions of the cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, musculoskeletal, skin and central nervous systems. The physiology and pathophysiology relevant to the understanding of how these drugs work is included. Finally the book explores the law in relation to the sale, supply, administration and prescription of drugs and explains what is meant by non-medical prescribing. All aspects of non-medical prescribing are considered including the use of exemptions to the Medicines Act, patient group directions, supplementary prescribing and the development of independent prescribing for nurses and pharmacists. Pharmacology is explained in simple, easy to understand terms and the book avoids any unnecessary chemistry where possible. Case studies that are of particular relevance to health care professionals are used throughout to illustrate the importance of the pharmacology major body systems and pathologies and the potential problems of adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions.