Drug Information Resources Flashcards
What are Drug Information Resources according to Anandabaskar, 2019?
DI refers to “current, critically examined, relevant data about drugs and drug use in a given
patient or population in a particular situation.”
What is referred to as data or knowledge about drugs and their safe, effective, and appropriate use?
Drug information
What does drug information encompass?
details about pharmacology
indications
dosages
administration
adverse effects
drug interactions
contraindications
monitoring parameters,
cost
identification
other aspects that inform healthcare professionals and patients about how to use a drug optimally.
The discovery, use, and management of information in the use of medications is?
Drug information
DI is sometimes interchangeable with?
“medication information” or “drug informatics.”
Individuals put DI in
different contexts by associating it with other words such as?
(1) specialist/practitioner/pharmacist/provider
(2) center/service/practice
(3) functions/skills.
What is a population as referred to in drug information?
Individuals defined by a set of common characteristics, such as a
policy on medication use developed by pharmacists working in the emergency department of a
health care system.
DI can be disseminated through multiple avenues such as?
Presentations,
publications, newsletters, websites, and public or social media coverage.
Delivery of drug information may be?
face-
to-face
by phone or email
virtually/online
DI developed for a given patient population can include?
developing therapeutic guidelines
communicating a national quality initiative
coordinating
an adverse drug event reporting and monitoring program.
DI is a specialized area of pharmacy that focuses on?
information management
Access to DI is an
essential prerequisite for the rational use of drugs. T or F?
True
In pharmacy practice what is the importance of DI?
- Decision-making in clinical settings
- Assisting healthcare providers in selecting appropriate
therapies - Adjusting dosages for specific populations (such as pediatrics or geriatrics)
- Preventing
adverse effects, and educating patients on proper medication use.
Why do pharmacists often
rely on DI resources?
To answer clinical questions, guide patient counselling, and ensure the
prescribed medications are safe and effective for each patient.
Give examples of new health information technologies are driving increased opportunities for providing DI?
- Electronic health records
- Computerized provider order entry
- Telemedicine
- Social media
- Changes in the environment
of care).
Opportunities for the provision of DI continue to grow in areas within the healthcare environment, including?
- Managed care organizations
- The pharmaceutical industry
- Medical and
specialty care clinics - Scientific writing and medical communication companies
- The insurance industry.
What are the benefits of smartphones in DI?
- Mobile devices increase point-of-care accessibility to information, providing fast and convenient access to valuable resources needed for answering DI
questions. - They can also help healthcare providers access information via many downloadable
mobile apps that can be accessed even when not connected to the internet. - Mobile devices and
digital technologies have also vastly increased the accessibility of health information to patients,
caregivers, and consumers.
What are the disadvantages of smartphones in DI?
- Due to this access and trend of using online information by patients,
healthcare professionals are faced with not only answering health and medication-related
questions but also staying current and vigilant on the latest information regarding medical
practice and treatments. - Not all published information is accurate or reliable;
- Some resources are
more reputable, current, and easier to use than others.
The various sources of drug information can be classified into
primary, secondary and tertiary.
What Tertiary DI resources?
Tertiary resources contain information filtered and summarized by the author or editor to
provide a quick and concise overview of a topic.
Some examples of tertiary resources include
textbooks, compendia, reference books, systematic and narrative review articles in journals,
clinical guidelines, ebooks.
Give examples of examples of compendia that fall under tertiary resources
Facts & Comparisons® eAnswers, IBM® Micromedex®,
Lexicomp®.
Why are Tertiary DI resources an initial place to identify information?
they
provide a relatively complete and concise overview of information available on a specific topic.
What are excellent first-line resources when dealing with a DI question?
Tertiary DI resources
What are secondary DI resources?
Secondary resources provide access to primary (e.g., clinical trials) and some tertiary (e.g.,
narrative reviews) literature in journals.
Give examples of paid secondary DI resources
CINAHL, EBSCOhost, Excerpta Medica,
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Ovid MEDLINE®
Is PubMed® a paid or free secondary DI resource?
Free
What is the difference between indexing and abstracting?
Indexing consists of
providing bibliographic citation information (e.g., title, author, citation of the article) while abstracting also includes a brief description (or abstract) of the information provided by the article or resource.
Is PsycINFO a paid or free secondary DI resource?
Free
What are primary DI resources?
Primary resources include clinical research studies and reports, both published and
unpublished.
Several types of publications are considered primary, including?
controlled trials, cohort studies, case series, and case reports.
What resources often provide the most in-depth
information about a topic?
Primary resources
What is one drawback of primary resources?
Primary resources require strong
literature evaluation skills and a longer commitment to review to assess the value and application
to health care accurately.
Give examples of free and paid primary resources?
free: open-access articles
paid subscription: New England Journal of Medicine
What is the first step in the provision of quality
drug information?
Knowing the
most appropriate resource for information retrieval
A question regarding the commercial availability of a product
formulation or mechanism of action could quickly be found in?
a tertiary resource (e.g, package insert)
A question regarding the
clinical trials supporting off-label use in a specific population will likely require?
A primary DI resource
How does the type of requestor influence the resources used to respond to a
question?
Generally, a consumer or patient request could more appropriately be answered from
available tertiary resources than from a clinical trial. However, if the requestor is a prescriber
requesting detailed information about managing a specific disease state and the role of
investigational therapies, providing primary literature may be appropriate.
Other DI resources include?
Commercial sources, verbal DI, Newswire services
Commercial sources are?
DI from pharmaceutical companies or drug manufacturers.
Verbal DI can be obtained from?
They are obtained from specialists, professional colleagues, pharmacists or pharmacologists.
Verbal DI can be obtained through?
They can be obtained through informal talks, meetings, conferences, seminars or structured
training programs conducted by the specialists.
A 25-year-old patient has recently been started on duloxetine for treatment of generalized anxiety
disorder. She is taking no other medications. She has been experiencing headaches recently and
wants to know if this might be drug-related.
What are appropriate tertiary resources to consult for a response to this request?
Micromedex – Offers comprehensive drug information, including adverse effects, interactions, and patient counseling points.
Lexicomp – Provides detailed drug monographs, including common and serious side effects.
Drugs.com – A user-friendly resource that lists side effects, though it’s more patient-focused.
Epocrates – Provides quick, mobile-accessible information on drug side effects.
UpToDate – Contains clinical summaries and drug-related adverse effects, often supported by primary literature.
AHFS Drug Information – A highly reputable source for in-depth drug information, including adverse effects.
Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) – Lists FDA-approved drug information, including side effects.
Medscape Drug Interaction Checker – Useful for confirming side effects and potential interactions, though the patient isn’t on other medications.
The drug leaflet
Classify the following DI resources under primary, secondary, tertiary or other types of
resources.
Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference, PubMed/Medline, Embase, Emdex,
clinicalTrials.gov, UpToDate, drug labels, original articles in Nigeria Journal of Pharmacy,
Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, Medscape, Web of Science, Seminars/
symposia, BNF.
Primary Resources
These are original research studies, clinical trials, and case reports.
- Original articles in Nigeria Journal of Pharmacy
- ClinicalTrials.gov (While primarily a registry, it contains access to primary data from clinical trials.)
- Seminars/Symposia (If they present original research data.)
Secondary Resources
These are indexing and abstracting services that help locate primary literature.
- PubMed/Medline
- Embase
- Web of Science
Tertiary Resources
These compile, summarize, and interpret primary and secondary sources, providing an overview of a topic.
- Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference
- Emdex
- UpToDate
- Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy
- BNF (British National Formulary)
- Drug labels (Considered tertiary as they provide summarized, regulatory-approved drug information.)
- Medscape
