Marie A. Chisolm-Burns, Allison M. Vaillancourt, Marv Shepherd. Pharmacy Management, Leadership, Marketing, and Finance. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC; 2011. 560pp, $61.95 (softcover). ISBN 978-1-44961-343-3.

Pharmacy Management, Leadership, Marketing, and Finance follows in the footsteps of other general management and leadership books with one central exception: teaching leadership and management specifically for the profession of pharmacy. This book hopefully serves as an answer to the dearth of pharmacy-specific management texts. The authors planned for it to serve as a training manual for both students and pharmacists; it can be used in the classroom or on the job. The text instructs on areas that are crucial for success in pharmacy, such as operations management, reimbursement, marketing, communication, conflict management, and human resource strategies. It is inferred that this book helps formal leaders of pharmacy, such as pharmacists-in-charge, and informal leaders, such as pharmacy student interns. Although earlier chapters serve as a foundation for later chapters, the individual chapters are also intended to be a handy reference tool for pharmacy managers. The chapters are written by over 50 contributors and reviewed by over 70 professionals from a myriad of disciplines, such as pharmacy faculty members, pharmacy managers, attorneys, human resources specialists, hospital directors, pharmacy administrators, and so on. This textbook is divided into 9 different general sections: Leading and Managing, Change and Innovation, Law and Ethics, Pharmacy Operations, Planning, Marketing, Human Resources, Communication, and Personal Development. There are 27 chapters in all, each written by multiple authors. The topics of the chapters include a multifaceted collection of areas that connect the professions of pharmacy and management/finance. These topics include pharmacy operations, inventory, third-party payers, accounting, entrepreneurship, and law/ethics. Furthermore, some chapters cover patient satisfaction and care, while others address recruiting and hiring staff members, managing them, and resolving problems and conflicts. Lucrative methods of advertising, marketing, and personal finance are also provided. At the head of each chapter, a synopsis of learning objectives, key concepts, and an introduction is provided. Key concepts are numbered and pointed out throughout the text. Each chapter is divided into various sections and subsections, all in larger bold font. Key terms also are in bold, signifying that they can be found in the glossary at the back of the book. Many of the sections include bulleted lists. Tables and figures are used throughout each chapter, with explanatory captions and sources cited. Each chapter ends with a concise summary, references, list of abbreviations used, and case scenarios for stimulating discussion. There is also an invitation at the end of each chapter to visit the companion Web site for students, a resource that provides self-assessment questions, an interactive glossary, puzzles, flashcards, and links to supporting videos and commentary from international experts available online. Instructors can benefit from prepared lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, a sample syllabus, and other materials for their classes. Thirty hours of continuing education credit are provided by the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy for this textbook. Finally, an index is supplied in the back of the book, immediately after the glossary.1 Pharmacy Management, Leadership, Marketing, and Finance (PMLMF) can be compared and contrasted to the 2009 book Pharmacy Management: Essentials for All Practice Settings (Essentials) in several interesting aspects. Both have chapters on personal finance, inventory, marketing (both have 2 chapters), leadership, management, entrepreneurship, pharmacy operations, and time management. They both cover topics in personnel management, but those are organized in different ways. Both books are divided into subsections and start with learning objectives, but Essentials starts each chapter with a scenario of a true-to-life dilemma that is hopefully solved by the information in the chapter. Essential does not have a glossary but defines terms fairly well within each chapter. Finally, unlike PMLMF, Essentials provides brief biographies of each chapter's author(s) before it begins.2 Overall, Pharmacy Management, Leadership, Marketing, and Finance contains lots of useful information, for both classroom lectures and real-life situations. The general design and visual layout of the text is geared to make instruction and self-study easier. This should function as a good resource for pharmacy faculty members, pharmacy students, and pharmacy managers. Even retail pharmacists who never plan to run their own store could still benefit from many of the chapters. However, because pharmacists are highly trained in the clinical sciences, connecting more complex scientific details to the book's concepts would have been an improvement. For example, chapter 12, “Achieving and Measuring Patient Satisfaction,” does not mention potential side effects of certain drugs. If a pharmacist chooses to market drug A over drug B but drug A causes many more side effects than drug B, this will not only cause potential harm to the patient, but reduce customer satisfaction. This may further lead to fewer trips to the pharmacy by those customers and subsequently fewer sales and profits. Chapters on pharmacoeconomics were not included, which would have been helpful. Also, there were only 2 chapters on pharmacy marketing, which is not sufficient for such a broad field. Except for some overly simplistic passages, this book is relevant to its audience's interests and educational level. In conclusion, it is comprehensive enough to serve as the solitary textbook for a pharmacy management class.