1. Common Online Reference Sources & Medicinescomplete NMSF – CPD Centre – Sudan Nov 2017
Ammar Abbas
Medicines Information / Medicines Management Pharmacist
Pharmacy Department
Countess of Chester Hospital (COCH) NHS Foundation Trust
November 2017

2. Objectives To become familiar with: Common Online Reference Sources
Demonstration of the Medicinescomplete package
Common Search strategies based on UKMi Enquiry Answering Guidelines and the Medicines Learning Portal
Limitations with common enquiry answering reference sources

3. Common online reference sources
Applicable to most common MI enquiries:
BNF / BNF for children (accessible via medicinescomplete)
Martindale – The complete drug reference: (accessible via medicinescomplete)
Electronic Medicines Compendium (EMC): freely accessible via
Specialist Pharmacy Services for UKMi specialist material: Drugs in Lactation; Medicines Q&A (mostly free access)

4. Electronic Medicines Compendium (EMC)
First place to look if you need an up-to-date SPC or patient information leaflet (PIL)
Access via electronic medicines compendium (emc):
170 Pharmaceutical companies subscribing – members of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
Advanced Search function enables more sophisticated searches (e.g. identifying products that do not contain lactose)

5. Electronic Medicines Compendium (EMC)

6. Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS)

7. The Medicinescomplete Package
Comprehensive online set of British, American and International pharmaceutical / clinical reference sources complied by the Pharmaceutical Press – RPSGB (UK)
Available in Sudan on an unlimited user subscription access via The National Medical Supplies Fund
Backbone of the UKMi Enquiry Answering Guidelines

8. The Medicinescomplete Package

9. The Medicinescomplete Package
Comprehensive global list of reference sources but the main list of clinical resources includes:
BNF & BNF for children
Martindale
AHFS
Drug Administration via enteral feeding tubes
Stockley’s Drug Interactions
Stockley’s Herbal Medicines Interactions
Herbal Medicines
Handbook on Injectable Drugs
Injectable Drugs Guide

10. The Medicinescomplete Package BNF / BNF c
Concise, first-line reference source on the prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines (UK)
Updated monthly
Limitations:
The introductory paragraphs to sections often contain important information which can be missed if users consult individual monographs only.
Listed side effects may not indicate frequency of occurrence.
Indications/ uses/ unlicensed uses etc sometimes reflect the views/ practice of experts and so may not be evidence based or the same as in the SPC

11. The Medicinescomplete Package Martindale – The complete Drug Reference
An evaluated source of drug information for practitioners working throughout the world.
Includes drug monographs, brief drug treatment and disease reviews and a useful section to help you identify products from abroad.
Good place to start if looking for information about unlicensed drugs, or drugs being used for ‘off-label’ indications.

12. The Medicinescomplete Package AHFS
AHFS : The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
includes detailed monographs on most drugs available in the US, and is particularly helpful for drugs that are used more frequently in the US than the UK.
has detailed descriptions of side effects and pharmacokinetics.
does include information about unlicensed drug use, but it doesn’t include information about drugs not used in the US (e.g. diamorphine).
Remember to look up drugs under their American names

13. The Medicinescomplete Package Drug Administration via Enteral Feeding Tubes
Formulations guide on administration to patients with limited GI access
covers legal (from a UK perspective), practical and technical aspects to consider before prescribing or administering drugs via an enteral feeding tube.
Individual monographs contain guidance on safe administration of specific drugs and formulations.

14. The Medicinescomplete Package Stockley’s drug Interactions
In order to search Stockley’s Drug Interactions comprehensively you need to search both interfaces i.e Stockley’s Drug Interactions and Stockley’s Interactions Checker
Stockley’s Interactions Checker and Stockley’s Interactions Alerts are different terms for the same database.
This is not and was never intended to be a definitive guide to every possible drug interaction – so should not be used as a sole source for “screening” patients’ medications for potential interactions

15. The Medicinescomplete Package Stockley’s Herbal Interactions
Evidence based information on drug interactions between conventional medicines and herbals, complementary therapies & dietary supplements

16. The Medicinescomplete Package Herbal Medicines
Evidence-based information on herbal medicines
Better / more comprehensive reference sources ; not included in Medicinescomplete is Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database ( – US reference source (subscription only)

17. The Medicinescomplete Package Handbook on Injectable Drugs
Useful as an IV compatability guide in general but use with great care as information is product specific
Gives information mainly on American preparations. Note that formulations may differ between the US and UK and thiscan affect compatibility.

18. The Medicinescomplete Package Injectable Drugs Guide
Safe and effective administration of injectable drugs
Can also access via (subscription only)
Monographs describe the most appropriate method of preparation and administration of medicines administered by IV route with the exception of cytotoxics

19. Immunisation enquiries
The Green Book : UK – Department of Health Publication
Freely accessible
National Protocols will be different from Sudan
Clinical considerations should not be different
Google : The Green Book – Immunisation against infectious disease and search for the most up to date edited chapters (careful)

20. UKMi Risk Management Strategy Limitations of common reference sources
No single source is totally comprehensive or completely up-to-date and all databases may have search function anomalies
Think about synonyms when searching books, databases or websites since cross-referencing is not always reliable (e.g. “hypericum” vs. “St John’s Wort”; “alopecia” vs. “hair loss”).
In US texts remember that some generic names differ from the UK. There is a UKMi Q&A that addresses this issue:
Expect most books to be at least 1-2 years out-of-date at the point of publication.

21. UKMi Risk Management Strategy Limitations of common reference sources
A webpage retrieved from a search engine such as Google may be an old version (a ‘cache’ page). For more information see: so ‘refresh’ web pages to be sure you get the current version.
Be aware that Google searches will return the entry with the most hits first which may not be the most recent.
Some governmental websites can hold several versions of the same document (eg The Green Book).
UKMi provides guidance to help you decide on the reliability of information on the web:

22. Any Questions