Drug information bulletin

Objective: To develop and implement an online bulletin intended to provide information on locally available medicinal products undergoing variation in their Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) and inclusions of medicinal products in the Government Formulary List (GFL) and to evaluate the usefulness of the bulletin among healthcare professionals and students. Method: Lists of locally available medicines that had undergone variations and medicinal products added to the GFL during a 6-month time frame were compiled. Additional information was obtained from regulatory authorities and local agents. A concise article was written on each drug, reviewed by a panel of experts and subsequently published in the online bulletin. Following completion of the contents and layout, the material was uploaded on the website of the Department of Pharmacy, University of Malta. A pilot study was carried out to identify shortcomings in the online bulletin design. The launch of the online bulletin started the promotional process which was mainly focused on electronic mail marketing. The data obtained from the validated questionnaire was coded and analysed using SPSS® v.20 and Microsoft® Excel Vista®. Key findings: Sixty seven per cent (n=223) of the respondents returned the questionnaire. The online bulletin was evaluated by 27 medical practitioners, 34 pharmacists, 37 medical students and 51 pharmacy students; of which 35% (n=52) were male and 65% (n=97) were female. The respondents agreed that the bulletin was up-to-date, clear and concise (91%, n=136), user-friendly (97%, n=144), useful (95%, n=142), well-designed (91%, n=136) and easy to access (87%, n=130). Ninety seven per cent (n=145) of the respondents stated that the information present in the bulletin was new to them, whilst 97% (n=144) agreed that the bulletin helped to keep them informed. Conclusion: The online bulletin provided an accessible means to deliver unbiased information about the introduction of recent medicinal products on the GFL and variations in SmPCs of products available on the local market. It was positively received by both healthcare professionals and students.peer-reviewe

Pengetahuan, Sikap dan Kebutuhan Pengunjung Apotek terhadap Informasi Obat di Kota Depok

Background: One of the obligations of pharmacist at a dispensary was to give drug information to the patient. The aims of this study were to describe the knowledge, attitude and need of dispensary visitor to the drug information in Depok City. This research uses cross sectional design with descriptive approach. The research samples are 150 dispensary visitors in Depok City during May–July 2008. Methods: The data collected using the questionnaire which has been reliability tested. The data were analyzed by frequency distribution and Chi Square Test. Results and Conclusions: The Results of this study show that: 1) Most of the dispensary visitors are women, age up to 40 years old, academic graduated, employee with income Rp 3–5 millions per month, and buying prescription. 2) Most of the dispensary visitor have high knowledge to the drug information, except in the case of knowledge about duty of pharmacist, who is to give drug information, logo of generic drug and way of giving drug information. 3) Most of the dispensary visitor have positive attitude to the drug information, except in the case of consultation room seen in front of the counter, pharmacist's fee from the drug information service, and the drug information required a computer. 4) Most of the dispensary visitor need the drug information. 5) The knowledge of dispensary visitor does not correlate to the drug information requirement, but the attitude of dispensary visitor correlate significantly to the drug information requirement

The Brazilian Drug Information System – SISMED

Foram descritas as atividades do farmacêutico especialista em informação sobre medicamentos (IM) e caracterizados os Centros de Informação sobre Medicamentos (CIMs), deixando claro o que não são e o que são - mitos e fatos. Foram apresentadas as definições de IM e de CIMs e apresentadas as atividades usuais dos Centros, destacando a informação passiva como atividade fundamental. Foi apresentado o Sistema Brasileiro de Informação sobre Medicamentos (SISMED), uma rede de CIMs integrados através de um Protocolo de Cooperação que estabelece os requisitos mínimos para o funcionamento dos CIMs e os mecanismos de cooperação entre os Centros participantes. As estratégias para a formação do SISMED foram a capacitação de recursos humanos e encontros dos responsáveis pelos CIMs. O treinamento de recursos humanos através de quatro cursos, deu suporte à implantação rápida de CIMs pelo Brasil, preenchendo importante lacuna, e consolidando definitivamente esta atividade no país, dentro dos preceitos adotados mundialmente. Os encontros periódicos dos que trabalham nos CIMs fortaleceram os Centros, e consequentemente, o SISMED. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis paper describes the professional profile of pharmacists as specialists in drug information. Drug Information (DI) and Drug Information Centers (DIC) are defined. The fundamental activity of a DIC should be that of providing passive information or answering questions. The advantage of a DIC network is discussed, and strategies to implement the Brazilian Drug Information System (SISMED) are presented: investment in professional specialization and regular meetings of DIC coordinators to exchange experiences. The different DICs work within a cooperative protocol. Four training courses have been held, resulting in the rapid development of Brazil's national DIC network. Two national meetings of DIC professionals have helped strengthen the Brazilian Drug Information System

Master of Science

thesisIn today's fast growing world of health care, the volume of drug information needed to provide competent care to patients is overwhelming. On average, health care professionals have two informational needs for every three patients seen which are either related to diagnosis or treatment. Therefore, seeking appropriate drug information to answer these informational needs is an important and valuable element of health care. Drug information can be obtained from different sources. Traditional sources like books, journals, meeting with colleagues, physicians' desk reference (PDR) or modern sources like the Internet (Google, Wikipedia), medical databases and medical literature indices. The information so obtained from these sources helps health care professionals to fill the gap in knowledge on new drugs and improve patient care. Therefore, the purpose of this study is (1) to identify health care professionals (HCPs) reported frequencies of use for different drug information sources in the University of Utah Community Clinics to obtain drug information (2) to descriptively find out of if there existed a difference between clinicians and pharmacists in their drug information seeking behaviors. The study design was cross-sectional and utilized a survey questionnaire to capture the drug information-seeking behaviors among health care professionals The Mission Based Survey Management tool was used to send out the surveys. iv The survey response rate was 55%. Clinicians most frequently reported to use drug information databases (46%) followed by personal digital assistants (PDAs) (23%) and electronic sources (18%) while pharmacists most frequently reported to use drug information databases (78%) followed by electronic sources (28%) and medical literature indices (19%). Clinicians were more likely to use PDAs to access drug information than pharmacists which could be due to portability and easier access to drug information via PDAs at point of care. Based on the results obtained from the study, it is reasonable to conclude that when clinicians and pharmacists were given a wide range of sources to choose from to seek drug information, most clinicians and pharmacist preferred to use drug information databases to obtain new drug information as compared to the traditional sources like books, journals and colleagues. Modern and improved technological sources of drug information have taken the place of traditional sources of drug information, reducing health care professionals' trips to the library or to the printed medical journals and books, eventually improving patient care

Evaluation of drug information retrieval services for selected investigational antineoplastic agents

The availability of drug information that is useful to clinicians is an important need for those responsible for medication use in patients. Physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and patients routinely require access to relevant information related to rational drug therapy. The need for rapid access to relevant information has become increasingly important as the science, technology, and specialization within health care expand. Because of this expansion the literature has increased not only in size but also in complexity. The term drug information (e.g., used in drug information service, drug information center or drug information specialist) is defined as knowledge of facts or circumstances acquired through reading, study or practical experience concerning the chemical substance intended for use in diagnosis, prevention, treatment or cure of disease or otherwise to enhance the physical or mental well-being of men or animals (1). This definition may be expanded to include the ability to provide information to the user in a special manner known as a drug information service. Drug information service is defined as the activities involved with accumulating, organizing, and retrieving drug information and may include provision of documents and bibliographic compilations or other medical library functions (1)

DRUG INFORMATION SERVICES TO HIV/AIDS CARE AND SUPPORT CENTRE IN RESOURCE LIMITED SETTINGS

Drug information services are considered as a major resource to provide patient counseling in clinical basis and to provide pharmaceutical care to improve rational use of medicines. In India, the drug information services are usually provided by the pharmacists those who are servicing in academic institutions and hospitals. Quality assurance is an important process required for continuous development and improvement. Hence, the present study was conducted to evaluate drug information services provided by clinical pharmacist of pharmacy practice department to HIV/AIDS care and support center in a resource limited settings. Drug information Queries received by the center was answered by clinical pharmacist of pharmacy practice department after analyzing by using modified systematic approach for their completeness, straight forwardness, reliability of answers and the reliability of references used to answer the queries from both the providers and receivers perspective. Over all it was observed that our drug information services are useful for health care professional in their clinical practice. As a part of pharmaceutical care the drug information service, provided by our pharmacy practice department could serve the need of health care professionals for better patient care were acceptable. Keywords: Pharmaceutical care, Drug information, Quality assurance

EVALUATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DRUG INFORMATION SERVICE AT PHARMACY IN YOGYAKARTA

Background : The drug information service is a part of pharmaceutical care to increase the quality of life of patient. To prevent unappropiated drug use and to improve patients knowledge and understanding on drug use leads to the treatment compliance and the success of therapeutical management. Therefore, it is extremly important to give drug information service for the patients and their family. Objective : This study was aimed to identify the realization of drug information service impelementation at phramacy in Yogyakarta. Methods : This study was non experimental study with descriptive observational design and quantitative approach Result : The result showed that the implementaion of drug information service at pharmacy in Yogyakarta had been conducted well. There were four information aspects was give to the patients. Based on the observation, 70 % patients experienced drug information service on the name of the drug and aimed of treatment, the rule of drug used, the schedule of drug used, and the period of drug used. However, information on the drug adverse effect and the drug storage were ungive. There were less than 70 % patient give the information. Moreover, the number of patients give drug toxicity and things to do related to drug toxicity information reached merely 33,33%, whereas patient who come to pharmacy is out patient who is responsible to the drug used. Conclusion : Implementation of drug information service at pharmacy in Yogyakarta had been well conducted. Nevertheless, some aspects of drug information were not implemented optimally. Keywords : implementation, drug information, pharmac