Teritiary: Evaluating Drug Information on the internet

Question 1

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ

Answer 1

provides resources for evidence-based practice on their Web site. There is access to clinical practice guidelines and consumer and healthcare professional information regarding healthcare quality. For example, there are resources on this site to help pharmacists improve the health literacy of patients (eg. Helping patients remember to take their medications).

Question 2

National Guideline Clearinghouse (guideline.gov)

Answer 2

a database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. You are able to search for practice guidelines by topic including disease or condition, treatment or indication. You are able to link to full-text guidelines, where available, and compare guidelines.

Question 3

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices

Answer 3

provides education about medication errors and adverse drug events and their prevention. There are useful resources on this site, such as confused drug names list, high-alert medications list, do-not crush list, error-prone abbreviations list, and guidelines for preventing errors.

Question 4

Medscape

Answer 4

commercial Internet site, unlike the other sites we reviewed today that were sponsored by the government or organizations. Medscape has several resources that could be helpful in a setting where you have limited access to drug information databases (Micromedex, Leximcomp, etc.). Medscape provides access to drug information, drug-interaction checker, and access to news in medical specialty areas. You should note that this is a site that may be useful in the absence of other more robust resources you have already learned about in this course. This site should not replace references more appropriate for health care professionals.