Drug Information Resources Flashcards
Dr. Amaeze
What is Drug Information?
- DI is current, critically examined, relevant data about drugs and drug use in a given patient or population in a particular situation.
- It may also be defined as data or knowledge about drugs and their safe, effective, and appropriate use.
It includes details about pharmacology, indications and contraindications, dosages and administration, adverse effects and drug interactions, monitoring parameters, etc., and other aspects that inform healthcare professionals and patients about how to use a drug optimally.
- It is as defined as the discovery, use and management of information in the use of medications.
Drug information involves the
provision of information for a specific patient only.
True or False?
False.
DI may be patient-specific or developed for a given patient population, such as
developing therapeutic guidelines, communicating a national quality initiative, or coordinating
an adverse drug event reporting and monitoring program.
Mention 5 avenues through which DI can be disseminated to the public.
- Presentations
- Publications
- Newsletters
- Websites
- Social Media Coverage
Delivery of DI may be done by the following means ….
- Face-to-face
- By phone
- By email
- Virtually
What is the importance of DI in pharmacy practice?
Pharmacists rely on DI resources to:
- Make decisions in clinical settings
- Answer clinical questions
- Counsel patients
- Ensure prescribed medications are safe and effective in each patient
- Assist healthcare providers in the selection of appropriate therapies, adjustment of dosages for specific populations, prevention of adverse effects and education of patients on proper medication use.
Mention areas of healthcare that continue to necessitate the provision of DI.
- Managed care organisations
- The pharmaceutical industry
- Medical and specialty care clinics
- Scientific writing and medical communication companies
- The insurance industry
Changes within health care are driving increased opportunities for providing DI. These changes include:
- National efforts to expand
access to care while reducing healthcare costs - The rise in the self-care movement and,
- The integration of new health information technologies (such as electronic health records, telemedicine etc.)
What are the classes of DI resources?
- Tertiary resource
- Secondary resource
- Primary resource
Describe tertiary DI resources.
They contain information filtered and summarised by the author or editor to
provide a quick and concise overview of a topic e.g., textbooks, journals etc.
Tertiary DI references often serve as an initial place to identify information since they provide a relatively complete and concise overview of information available on a specific topic.
Most of the basic information a practitioner needs can be found in these sources, making them
excellent first-line resources when dealing with a DI question.
Although some tertiary references are limited to print versions, many are available via online access, downloadable applications, or eBooks.
Mention 5 examples of tertiary DI resources.
- Textbooks
- Compendia
- Books
- Clinical guidelines
- Systematic and narrative review journals
- Package Insert
Mention 4 major compendia electronically available on mobile devices.
- Facts & Comparisons® eAnswers
- IBM®
- Micromedex®
- Lexicomp®
Describe secondary DI resources.
Secondary resources provide access to primary (e.g., clinical trials) and some tertiary (e.g., narrative reviews) literature in journals.
Indexing and abstracting are two common terms used when discussing secondary resources
Practitioners can use secondary resources to stay abreast of recently published literature or to find published literature related to a specific topic.
Secondary resources are available either as paid or free subscriptions to many health care professionals.
Provide 6 examples of secondary DI resource.
Indicate whether they are paid or free.
- CINAHL (Paid)
- EBSCOhost (Paid)
- Excerpta Medica (Paid)
- International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (Paid)
- Ovid MEDLINE® (Paid)
- PubMed® (Free)
Distinguish between Indexing and Abstracting.
Indexing involves providing bibliographic citation information (e.g., title, author, citation of the article)
while
Abstracting includes a brief description (or abstract) of the information provided by the article or resource
Describe primary DI resources.
Primary resources include clinical research studies and reports, both published and unpublished.
Primary resources often provide the most in-depth information about a topic and allow the reader to analyze and critique the study methodology to
determine if the results and conclusions are valid.
Typically, primary resources require strong literature evaluation skills and a longer commitment to review to assess the value and application to health care accurately.
They may be available freely (e.g., open-access articles) or by paid
subscription (e.g., New England Journal of Medicine)
Mention 4 examples of primary DI resources
- Clinical trials
- Controlled trials
- Cohort studies
- Case series
- Case reports
They may be available freely as open-access articles or by paid subscription e.g., New England Journal of Medicine
Mention 4 similarities between the 3 classes of DI resources?
- All three types of resources aim to provide reliable and useful information about drugs for clinical or educational purposes.
- They often contain overlapping information, such as drug names, indications, dosages, and pharmacological data.
- All resources help healthcare providers make informed decisions about patient care.
- Increasingly, all types of resources can be available digitally, enhancing ease of access.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of tertiary DI resources?
Advantages
1. They are an excellent first-line resource for DI questions
2. They provide a relatively complete and concise overview of information available on a specific topic.
3. Available in various formats (print, online, apps)
4. Easy to use; requires minimal literally evaluation skill.
Limitations
1. Limited detail; may not answer complex or specific queries.
2. Content interpretation depends on the author’s perspective, thus information may be biased or inaccurate.
3. Lag time for publication
What are the advantages and disadvantages of secondary DI resources?
Advantages
1. Efficient access to a broad array of studies and reviews.
2. Helps in locating and organizing relevant literature (Indexing)
3. Provides abstracts for a quick overview.
Limitations
1. Lag in publication, indexing and abstracting within databases
2. Index and abstract information from journals, publications, etc., may differ across secondary resources.
3. Scope may vary depending on the database.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of primary DI resources?
Advantages
1. They provide the most in-depth
information about a topic
2. They allow independent evaluation of methodology and findings
3. Essential for evidence-based practice and new therapies.
Limitations
1. They require strong literature evaluation skills
2. Time-intensive to review
3. Not suitable for quick reference or non-specialists.
The first step in providing quality drug information is __________
Knowing the most appropriate resource for information retrieval
The resource choice depends on:
- The query.
- The type of requester (e.g., patient vs. prescriber)
Mention 3 other DI resources
- Commercial sources: DI from pharmaceutical companies or drug manufacturers. The information is provided
through verbal, written and electronic sources. Most physicians are exposed to advertisements
and promotional materials of pharmaceutical companies by medical representatives or talks in
professional meetings (by sponsoring scientific conferences and symposia). - Verbal DI: They are obtained from specialists, professional colleagues, pharmacists or pharmacologists. They can be obtained through informal talks, meetings, conferences, seminars or structured training programs conducted by the specialists.
- Newswire services
If a question involves, for example, a recent news story reporting the removal of a medication
from the market, a logical first place to find initial information would be to identify the original
news story. This can be done by searching various newswire services such as PR Newswire,
major news network websites such as CNN, or even general internet search engines. While this
news story may not provide all the information needed, it can be a starting point for researching
additional information.
