Tertiary: Other electronic sources

Question 1

Your patient is taking the following medications and you would like to evaluate any interactions: lisinopril, levothyroxine, St. Johns Wort. Which of the following is the best resource for this request?

a. Natural Medicines
b. USP-NF (No, this is a regulatory and standards resource that provides information regarding the standards for prescription agents, OTC products, and excipients)
c. Pharmacist’s letter (this is not a best resource. Pharmacist’s letter is a useful resource for keeping up to date on most recent developments in medicine regarding medications)
d. The medical letter

Answer 1

a. Natural Medicines

Question 2

You are asked to look into hypertensive crisis. Which of the following would be the best starting point?

a. USP-NF
b. Natural Medicines
c. DynaMed
d. Pharmacist’s letter

Answer 2

c. DynaMed (This database is appropriate to find information regarding how to approach treatment of a disease or diagnosis

Question 3

A physician tells you his colleague mentioned that use of nimodipine for migraine prophyiaxis. He knows that the FDA has not approved its use for this indication, but wants additional information. Which of the following is the best resource to search for this information?

a. USP-NF
b. DynaMed
c. Natural medicines
d. Pharmacist’s letter.

Answer 3

b. DynaMed

Question 4

Natural Medicines

Answer 4

• Search by the following:
o Natural product name
o Disease or condition
o Drug name
• Evaluate drug-nutrient interactions (home screen or under tools)
• Nutrient depletion checker (home screen or under tools)

Question 5

DynaMed Plus:

Answer 5

• Clinical content in a variety of medical specialties (eg, cardiology, infectious diseases, oncology, pediatrics) with treatment recommendations by physician authors
• Drug information database and drug interactions database (Micromedex content)
• Clinical calculators, patient information in English and Spanish

Question 6

USP-NF

Answer 6

• Combination publication of United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary
o USP – provides standards for OTC and prescription ingredients
o NF – provides standards for excipients
• Provides standards for prescription and non-prescription drug ingredients and dosage forms, dietary supplements, medical devices, and other health care products
• General chapters detail the requirements for testing procedures
• Companion publications:
o USP on Compounding
 Compounding-related chapters from the USP-NF
o USP Dictionary
 Official source of established drug names
o USP FCC – Food Chemicals Codex
 Compendium of purity and quality standards for food ingredients

Question 7

Pharmacist’s Letter

Answer 7

• Monthly newsletter
• Details new development in medicines and current topics/reviews in pharmacy practice
• Excellent source for charts/tables and reference materials
• Provides a quick and easy-to-read summary of current news to keep pharmacists up to date with new approvals, changes in treatment guidelines and therapeutic issues
• Register at https://pharmacistsletter.therapeuticresearch.com/Logon.aspx?cs=SCHOOLNOPL&s=PL&bu= for free access (Thanks to Wal-Mart!)

Question 8

The Medical Letter

Answer 8

• Bi-monthly electronic newsletter
• Provides easy to read articles and summary of recently published literature
• Keeps practitioners up to date on medication therapies
• Comparative reviews of drugs and drug classes