Almost twenty years ago, the faculty members of the Department of Pharmacol ogy at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine developed a review book of medical pharmacology in response to requests from our second year medical students who were preparing to sit for the Part I examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners. The students expressed a need for an organized approach to cope with the volume of basic science curricular material presented during the first two years. Therefore, this book was not developed as a compre hensive text, but rather was designed specifically to provide students with a syn opsis of the basic core of information we deemed essential for their review. This book represents a major revision of our review of medical pharmacology. The book has been updated and expanded, provides current information on ma jor new drugs and information on older drug groups that typically have been covered on previous licensure examinations. The book includes a number of new questions for self-examination. The faculty have endeavored to retain a reason ably concise, relevant and readable review book that will provide the students with a thorough review of pharmacology. Students are advised to refer to com prehensive textbooks, as needed, to fill in any gaps in their knowledge which may be disclosed by the self-examinations.
