| Summary: | Provides consensus advice for the correct and safe prescribing of essential drugs used in anaesthesia. Prepared by WHO in collaboration with the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, the book is the first in a series of handbooks offering up-to-date and objective information on the correct prescribing of essential drugs. The book opens with a concise introduction to the do's, don'ts, musts, and nevers of drug use in anaesthesia. Though reliance is placed firmly on WHO's Model List of Essential Drugs, other options are discussed where these have particular relevance. Procedures that are absolutely contraindicated when certain essential skills and equipment are not available are clearly indicated. The main part consists of model information sheets for 31 drugs presented in the categories of premedication, general and local anaesthetics, non-opioid analgesics, opioid analgesics and antagonists, muscle relaxants and cholinesterase inhibitors, blood substitutes, and solutions for correcting water and electrolyte imbalance. For each drug, general information on properties and uses is followed by details of dosage and administration, contraindications, precautions, use in pregnancy, adverse effects, drug interactions, the signs and treatment of overdose, and storage requirements. Information on drugs used to induce general anaesthesia is especially detailed, including advice on each drug's advantages and disadvantages as well as details on its use according to different techniques.
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