Micromedex is one of the most popular tools used by pharmacists to provide medicines information. This paper outlines a brief review of the product to determine whether it would be suitable for use by undergraduates in a particular UK School of Pharmacy, that of UCL London

Okokon, Atai

English

Journal of EAHIL

Journal of  the European Association for Health Information and Libraries 2014, Vol. 10 (2) 8AbstractMicromedex is one of the most popular tools used by pharmacists to provide medicines information. This paper outlinesa brief review of the product to determine whether it would be suitable for use by undergraduates in a particular UKSchool of Pharmacy, that of UCL London.Key words: pharmacy; education, pharmacy; drug information services; databaseIntroductionPharmacists are experts on medicines. Health profess -ionals and indeed the entire public depend on thepharmacist for reliable information on medicines: thisinformation helps promote rational prescribing, rationaluse of medicines and ultimately saves lives. There arevarious tools available that enable pharmacists to provideevidence based reliable medicines information and one ofthe most popular ones is Micromedex. This paper aims toevaluate the necessity of Micromedex in a PharmacySchool. MethodsA rough search was done using Google and PubMed.Interviews with senior and junior pharmacists wereconducted to evaluate the need. The search includedlearning about Micromedex and its resources, theorganisations within the UK that used Micromedex andpossible alternatives to Micromedex tailored for use in theUK. Four senior medicines information pharmacists wereasked if they felt Micromedex was necessary foracademic use and the more junior pharmacists (n = 5)were asked if they had used Micromedex whilst inuniversity and if they felt it would have helped them adaptbetter to being a pharmacist. The author also usedMicromedex at three Medicine Information departmentsand downloaded the free android app.DiscussionMicromedex is a very important tool and it is quiteindispensable to pharmacists as a whole, particularlyclinical and medicines information pharmacists. Itprovides comprehensive, detailed information on druginteractions with evidence from referenced studies. Aspart of their training, Pharmacy students need to be ableto search, critically appraise and present evidence on drugtherapy. Senior pharmacists are of the opinion thatMicromedex is not suitable for Pharmacy students as ittends to “do their homework for them”. Interestingly, thejunior pharmacists were of the same opinion. Also,Micromedex is US-Centric and tends to focus more onmedicines used in the US.Having used Micromedex, the author is of the opinionthat it is a great tool. Whilst it will be great to have accessto its vast resources and it will make their work easier,allowing students access to the tool might end up beingcounterproductive as they will tend to rely on the tool.Moreover, as a less comprehensive but usefulMicromedex: a brief review for a UK School of PharmacyAtai OkokonHon Research Fellow, Partnerships in Health Information, Pinner, Middlesex, United KingdomAddress for correspondence: Atai Okokon, c/o Partnerships in Health Information, 30 West End Lane, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 1AQTel: +44(0)20 8866 9892 Email: aokokon@gmail.comFeature ArticleFig. 1. Pharmacy students working with electronicinformation.Micromedex mobile app is available (for free), it may notbe cost effective for the School of Pharmacy to purchasethe toolWhat is Micromedex?Micromedex is a comprehensive database of healthinformation resources developed and marketed by TruvenHealth Analytics (1). It is quite popular amongst healthprofessionals and is a trusted source of unbiased healthand medicines information and is widely used by the UKmedicines information (UKMi) professionals (1-3). TheMicromedex tool is a combination of individual resourcesand one can either subscribe to all the resources or selectthose that meet the organisation’s needs.The resources within Micromedex include: Drugdex (a resource with information onmedicines); Drug-Reax (a resource with information on druginteractions); Identidex (a resource with information on drugidentification e.g if a patient comes in with apocket full of unlabelled pills, Identidexcan helpidentify the pills. It is US-centric and a differentprogramme, TicTac helps identify UK drugs); DiseaseDex (a resource with information ondiseases); PoisinDex (a resource with information ontoxicology); LabAdvisor (information on laboratory tests); AltMedDex (information on alternativemedicines).Micromedex has mobile apps that come free with thesubscription and it also has free apps available on androidand iOS for everyone. The mobile app that comes with thesubscription is more comprehensive than the freelyavailable version.How Micromedex is accessedTo use Micromedex, one requires IP authentication. Usershave to log in to the web based database to use itsresources.Obvious benefits and demerits of MicromedexMicromedex is the preferred medicine informationresource in use by Medicines Information departments inUK hospitals. It is quite comprehensive and providesevidence based and detailed information on medicines-interactions, adverse effects etc. on over 2700 drugs (1, 3-5). Micromedex has been described by medical studentsas an excellent resource for drug information and studieshave shown this to be true (6-8). Interestingly, one study showed that amongst CanadianPharmacists, Micromedex was the least preferred of threeonline drug information databases (9). Anothercomparative (unpublished) study by the UKMi showedthat the difference between Micromedex and Lexicomp-a much cheaper alternative and most preferred byCanadian Pharmacists was not much (5).For pharmacists, Micromedex is an invaluable resource.However, practicing pharmacists, both Junior and Seniorhave said they do not think it is ideal for students. Theyounger pharmacists all thought that there would havebeen no added advantage if they had used Micromedex asstudents and the senior pharmacists believed thatMicromedex will only make students lazy.Another major drawback is its cost. The full Micromedexweb based tool is quite expensive. Its free mobile app isquite easy to use and is used widely by medical students.I have downloaded the app and find it quite useful.Who is using Micromedex in the UK?All medicines information departments in the UK haveaccess to Micromedex. To my knowledge, Micromedex isnot widely used in UK Pharmacy Schools but many USSchools have access to it (10). If UCL subscribes, it willprobably be the only Pharmacy School in the UK to dothat.ConclusionMicromedex is a great tool for practicing pharmacists.Although not widely used in UK Pharmacy Schools, it isused extensively in US Pharmacy Schools. Having usedthe tool myself I can only applaud its comprehensivenessand reliability in providing much needed druginformation. The prohibitive costs would have to beJournal of  the European Association for Health Information and Libraries 2014, Vol. 10 (2) 9Micromedex: a brief review for a UK School of PharmacyFig. 2. UCL School of PharmacyReferences1. About Micromedex Company | Leadership Team | Information [Internet]. [cited 2014 Feb 13]. Available from:http://micromedex.com/about-micromedex2. intro to searching micromedex databases [Internet]. [cited 2014 Feb 13]. Available from:http://www.ukmi.nhs.uk/Training/pdffiles/Pharmpressinfoguide.pdf3. Spotlight on MICROMEDEX - Ebling Library [Internet]. [cited 2014 Feb 13]. Available from:https://ebling.library.wisc.edu/spotlight/micromedex.php4. Clauson K, Hyla P. Selecting the Right Online Drug Information Database for Your Organization. PP&P.2007(September); 6-10.5. comparison of micromedex and lexicomp UKMI [Internet]. [cited 2014 Feb 13]. Available from:http://www.ukmi.nhs.uk/filestore/misc/AcomparisonoftheMicromedexandLexi-compDatabases.pdf6. Khalifian S, Markman T, Sampognaro P, Mitchell S, Weeks S, Dattilo J. Medical student appraisal: searchingon smartphones. Appl Clin Inform [Internet]. 2013 Jan [cited 2014 Feb 13];4(1):53–60. Available from:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3644814&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract7. Polen HH, Zapantis A, Clauson KA, Jebrock J, Paris M. Ability of online drug databases to assist in clinicaldecision-making with infectious disease therapies. BMC Infect Dis [Internet]. 2008 Jan [cited 2014 Jan27];8:153. Available from:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2613899&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract8. Clauson KA, Marsh WA, Polen HH, Seamon MJ, Ortiz BI. Clinical decision support tools: analysis of onlinedrug information databases. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak [Internet]. 2007 Jan [cited 2014 Jan 28];7:7.Available from:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1831469&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract9. Mountford CM, Lee T, de Lemos J, Loewen PS. Quality and usability of common drug information databases.Can J Hosp Pharm [Internet]. 2010 Mar [cited 2014 Feb 13];63(2):130–7. Available from:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2858502&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract10. pharmacy school micromedex - Google Search [Internet]. [cited 2014 Feb 13]. Available from:https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pharmacy+school+micromedex&oq=pharmacy+school+micromedex&aqs=chrome..69i57.9621j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8considered when choosing to start a subscription. It willbe worth finding out if Truven Health Analytics offers atrial version of the software. I would recommend theLibrary does a “test-run” using this trial beforecommitting to it.AcknowledgementsThis short paper was written during my time as aCommonwealth Professional Fellow in the UK in thefirst part of 2014. The main aim of my Fellowship wasto learn how medicines information is managed in theUK at the national, regional and hospital level so that Icould build networks and contacts with relevant UKbodies and individuals in the field. I would like to thank: The Commonwealth Scholarship Commissionfor sponsoring my Fellowship which was avaluable and enriching experience; Partnerships in Health Information (Phi) whohosted me and planned a carefully thought outprogramme tailored for my needs;  Michelle Wake, Librarian, The UCL LondonSchool of Pharmacy where I was on attachmentfor a week very early in my programme. I waswarmly welcomed by Michelle and hercolleagues. As part of my programme Michelleencouraged me to write about Micromedex. More information:1. The Commonwealth Professional FellowshipScheme, supports mid-career professionals in spendingtime with a UK host organisation/s for a workingprogramme of professional development.http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply/professional-fellowships/2. Partnerships in Health Information (Phi) is a UKcharity of over 20 years standing. Phi works in Africa topromote partnership working and development projects.These partnerships are having a significant impact inmaking health information available to people who needit and are contributing to better understanding of globalhealth information issues. http://www.partnershipsinhealthinformation.org.uk/Phi’s work is guided by the following principles:  promote African leadership in health andmedicines information; support evidence based practice; work to improve public access to healthinformation.Received 15.05.2014 Accepted 22.05.2014Atai OkokonJournal of  the European Association for Health Information and Libraries 2014, Vol. 10 (2) 10

Micromedex: a brief review for a UK School of Pharmacy

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Micromedex: a brief review for a UK School of Pharmacy

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