1. Drug Information Resources
Lecture No:2
Smitha C Francis

2. Drug Information resources
Tertiary sources
Secondary sources
Primary sources
Internet
Alternative information resources
Consumer health information

3. Tertiary sources Textbooks, data bases, review articles in journals
Benefits:-
- Easy and convenient access to a broad spectrum of topics.
- Background information on drugs and diseases.
- Answer many drug related problems, excellent first line
resources.
Limitations:-
- Lag time associated with publication.
- Incomplete information, human bias.
- lack of expertise by authors- misinterpretation of primary
and secondary literature.

4. Databases - convenient, easy to use, referenced - similar to text books - updated more frequently e.g. Micromedex, Clinical Pharmacology on Hand, Lexi-comp on Hand

5. General considerations while using tertiary sources
Author, publisher
Year of publication or last revision date
Edition of the text
Bibliography
Scope – how accessible is the information
Alternative resources

6. Tertiary resources

7. Secondary resources
References that either index or abstract the primary literature with the goal of directing the user to the primary literature.
Benefits:-
Quick and selective screening of primary resources for specific information, data , citation and articles.
May provide sufficient information to serve as references for answering DI requests.
Medline/pubmed, International pharmaceutical abstracts , Iowa drug Information system.
Vast majority of these resources are utilized primarily in an electronic format although still some may have a print form.

8. Limitations:-
Review of finite number of journals- hinder the thoroughness of a literature search.
lag time- publication and citation in an index.
Describe only articles and clinical studies from journals, addition of new information through letters which are not included in the services- Medline/Pubmed, Iowa DI services
Used to locate journal articles. Abstracts - no enough information to critically evaluate the study.

9. Secondary resources

10. Primary literature Journals
Consists of clinical research studies and reports, both published and unpublished.( Controlled trials, case series, case reports)
Not all articles published in a journal are primary literature.(review articles, articles of opinion, correspondence, special reports)
Journals enable pharmacists to:-
- Keep abreast of professional news, new developments in
pathophysiology, diagnostic agents, and therapeutic regimens.
- distinguish useful from useless or even harmful therapy.
- enhance communication with other health care professionals and
consumers.
- Share opinions with other healthcare professionals through letters to
the editor.

11. Advantages: -
Access to detailed information about a topic.
Ability to personally assess the utility and validity of
study results.
More recent information than tertiary or secondary
literature.
Disadvantages:-
Does not guarantee that an article is accurate,
misleading conclusions based on only one trial
without the context of other researches
Need to have good skills in medical literature
evaluation, time needed to evaluate the large
volume of literature.

12. Primary resources

13. Tertiary Secondary Primary Nature Examples Advantages Limitations
Textbooks, general references,
review articles
Intermediary between texts & primary resources–indexing and abstracting services
Original research –clinical trials & case reports
Examples
Therapeutic Guidelines, Micromedex
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Medline/ Pubmed
JAMA, NEJM
Advantages
Easy and convenient access to
broad range of information
Quick and easy selective screening of primary literature for specific information
Most current information
Helps to answer specific questions
Reputable sources are peer-reviewed
Limitations
Information may not be recent
Information omissions
Information misinterpretation
Source/intent of information
Usually describe content from journals .
Mainly used to locate relevant journals
A lot of information to go through and absorb
No guarantee of accuracy

14. Internet Another method to identify relevant resource. Benefits:-
Ability to search therapies that have been recently published or discussed in the media.
Most popular web browsers- Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft internet explorer,
Search engines- Google, altavista, Yahoo- index as much of the internet as possible.
Limitations:-
Information may not be peer reviewed or edited before release.
A website should be evaluated by its source of information.
Literature evaluation skills should be used to determine whether information is clear, relevant and referenced.

15.
Inorder to assess the quality of online information, several standards and programs exist. (
Alternative information sources:

16. Consumer health information website Maintained by Content
National library of medicine
Medications, disease states and conditions
Food and drug administration
New drugs and dietary supplements and recalls of drug or food.

17. Drug information resources - Texts and References
Adverse drug reactions- AHFS DI, DrugDex, Martindale’s : The Extra Pharmacopoeia, Side effects of Drugs.
Alternative Medicines- Review of natural products, professional’s Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Doses- Drugs Facts and Comparisons, Physician’s Drug Reference.
Pediatric- Pediatric Drug Handbook
Drug Identification- Drugs Facts and Comparisons, Identidex, Lexicomp, Merck Index, European Drug Index.
Drug Interactions- AHFS DI, USP DI
Indications- Pharmacotherapy, Drug Information Handbook
Teratogenecity- Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation, ReproRisk, AHFS DI.

18. Conclusion
All pharmacists must be effective DI providers regardless of their practice.
An effective provider perceives, assesses and evaluates DI needs and retrieves, evaluates, communicates and applies data from the resources as an integral component of patient care.
There is still the need for practitioner to have support from DICs to meet special information needs, to serve as a resource on effective medication use, and to assist pharmacy practitioners as well as others in solving medication therapy situations.

19. References Drug Information – A guide for Pharmacists.
A textbook of clinical pharmacy, essential concepts and skills.