DRUG INFORMATION SERVICES

A. Definition of Terms

1. Drug Information
a. Knowledge of facts through; reading, study, or practical experience on chemical substance that is used in the
diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of a disease
b. Covers all types of information including; objective and subjective information as well as information
gathered by scientific observation and practical experience
2. Drug Information Service
a. It describes the activities undertaken by pharmacists in providing information to optimize drug use
b. It is those services which cover the activities of specially trained individual to provide accurate, unbiased,
factual information in response to patient-oriented drug problems that are received from health care
professionals

B. History

1950 – Product to Information shift

1962 – First pharmacist operated drug information center at University of Kentucky, USA
1964 – Conference on DIS
1967 – The Drug Information Specialist
1975 – the Millis Commission Report, AACP

C. Different types of Drug Literatures or Drug References

- Before starting the research, a search strategy must be made
o One must know where to look for the kind of information needed
o Also, one must have a sense of whether or not information found is of good quality

1. Primary Sources – Patents, Conference Papers (Abstracts), Case Reports, Journal Articles, Correspondences,
Theses
2. Secondary Sources – Bibliographies, Reviews, Abstractings, and Indexing Services
a. Examples of Abstractings

i. PubMed (Medline) – a service of the US ii. International Pharmaceutical Abstracts

National Library of Medicine that includes iii. Academic Search Primer
over 17 million citations from MEDLINE iv. ISI web of knowledge
and other life science journals for v. Biosis
biomedical articles back to the 1950s; vi. OVID
includes links to full text articles and other vii. EBSCO
related resources viii. EMBASE

3. Tertiary Sources – Textbooks

a. Composed of:

i. Reference books – applied therapeutics iii. Compendia (BNF, AHFS)

ii. Review articles iv. Practical guidelines

D. Evaluating a tertiary reference

1. Evaluate the quality and credibility

a. Does the author have sufficient credentials b. Is this the most recent edition?
and/or experience?
 c. Are statements of facts appropriately d. Is the reference easy to use?
supported by citations?

2. Consider the Advantages and Disadvantages

a. Advantages

i. Convenient iv. Provides much information needed for a

ii. Concise common practice
iii. Compact

b. Disadvantages

i. Information may be incomplete iii. Information may be out of date

ii. May not be enough detail

E. Stepwise approach in receiving queries

1. Secure demographics of the requestor

2. Obtain background information
3. Determine and categorize the actual question
4. Develop the search strategy and conduct the research
5. Perform evaluation, analysis and synthesis
6. Formulate and provide a response

- In order to do 1 through 3, one must have good communication skills

- To be able to do step 4, one must be familiar with the different types of references
o Sometimes, a search requires the three types
o A tertiary topic to familiarize oneself with the topic
o Secondary topic to identify appropriate primary literature
o Carefully evaluated primary literature
o Tertiary source will be sufficient for:

 Information for a patient consultation  Active ingredients of preparations

 Availability of dosage strengths or forms or  Approved indications
compatibility information

- To be able to do step 5, one must read and evaluate clinical studies

o Introduction of clinical studies
o Introduction of critical appraisal of clinical study
o Evaluation of websites that provide health information

F. Qualities the Pharmacist has to run DIS

1. Can critically evaluate drug literature

2. Can edit information to facilitate decision-making
3. Aware of the sources of information and thus, collects secondary data
4. Computer literate
5. Member of the PTC
6. Redefined his/her role and has become an expert drug counsellor
7. Has knowledge of research methodology
G. Feasibility. No available feasibility studies for the introduction of Drug Information Services in the Philippine Health
Care setting

H. Conclusion

Drug Information Center is one of the important services of health care professionals. A systematic approach should
be considered for all DI aspects. Pharmacists should document their services to demonstrate accountability and
justify the value of pharmacist care. Drug information service help in effective and efficient drug therapy and
consequently a better patient care will be achieved.