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Gerry’s Real Word Guide to Pharmacokinetics and Other Things

G.M. Woerlee. Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2005. 162 pages. ISBN 1 905237 16 2

The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Canada

During my years of teaching students and residents in anesthesia, it has been my bias that serious tomes on pharmacokinetics and dynamics are ‘inhibitors’ to the majority of anesthesia practitioners and learners. In his slim paperback text, "Gerry’s Real World Guide to Pharmacokinetics and Other Things", G.M. Woerlee has done a tremendous job of avoiding this pitfall, and has created a highly approachable text for all anesthesia practitioners.

The motif involves a curmudgeonly, ‘coffee-swilling’ staff anesthesiologist who observes the ‘pharmacological pitfalls’ of his resident, and uses case scenarios as his ‘famed’ learning points (to the apparent dismay of the OR nurses and surgeons who evidently know him well). This style is quite effective, in that the issues discussed are immediately relevant to the common clinical problem being suffered by the patient. This relevancy, combined with Woerlee’s admitted simplifications, make for a very understand-able text. While Woerlee uses limited data sets to reinforce his points, and even the occasional pharmacokinetic equation, none is essential to acquiring the lessons at hand.

With respect to content, Woerlee addresses why the patient experiences delayed emergence from anesthesia, why the patient has difficulty in ‘staying asleep’, the concerns of the post-surgical breast-feeding mother, anesthetic management of the renal failure patient, and more. As a seasoned practitioner, I found this short text to be delightfully refreshing and practical. I highly recommend "Gerry’s Real World Guide to Pharmacokinetics and Other Things" to both practicing anesthesiologists and residents in training.

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