TY - JOUR
T1 - Pattern of Drug Information Queries in a South Indian Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital
AU - Bright, Heber Rew Bright
AU - Peter, John Victor
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Drug information centers have been established to provide unbiased information to healthcare workers and patients. The pattern of drug information queries received and answered by the drug information centre in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India was assessed. Prospectively documented drug information queries, received and answered by the drug information centre over a 15-month period, were reviewed retrospectively for various parameters including status of the requestor, mode of receipt, mode of reply, type of query, purpose of query and references used. A total of 2010 queries were received and answered during the study period. Queries were received mainly from physicians (41 %), followed by nurses (n=595; 30 %) and pharmacists (n=462; 23 %). Dentists, students and healthcare professionals from outside the institution accounted for 139 (6 %) queries. Internet-based resource was the main reference source (n=952; 47 %) followed by textbooks, intranet resources and journals. Patient care-related queries were the most common. The information sought included product identification (22 %), drug dose or schedule (16 %), product availability (13 %), drug of choice/therapeutic alternatives/therapeutic use (10 %), product information (10 %), drug use in special populations and administration (6 % each), compatibility/stability/storage (5 %) and adverse reactions (4 %). The drug information center in a teaching hospital handles a wide range of queries from various healthcare workers, meets specific healthcare needs and serves as a valuable source of drug information. The impact of this service on improving patient care and minimizing errors warrants further study.
AB - Drug information centers have been established to provide unbiased information to healthcare workers and patients. The pattern of drug information queries received and answered by the drug information centre in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India was assessed. Prospectively documented drug information queries, received and answered by the drug information centre over a 15-month period, were reviewed retrospectively for various parameters including status of the requestor, mode of receipt, mode of reply, type of query, purpose of query and references used. A total of 2010 queries were received and answered during the study period. Queries were received mainly from physicians (41 %), followed by nurses (n=595; 30 %) and pharmacists (n=462; 23 %). Dentists, students and healthcare professionals from outside the institution accounted for 139 (6 %) queries. Internet-based resource was the main reference source (n=952; 47 %) followed by textbooks, intranet resources and journals. Patient care-related queries were the most common. The information sought included product identification (22 %), drug dose or schedule (16 %), product availability (13 %), drug of choice/therapeutic alternatives/therapeutic use (10 %), product information (10 %), drug use in special populations and administration (6 % each), compatibility/stability/storage (5 %) and adverse reactions (4 %). The drug information center in a teaching hospital handles a wide range of queries from various healthcare workers, meets specific healthcare needs and serves as a valuable source of drug information. The impact of this service on improving patient care and minimizing errors warrants further study.
KW - drug information centre
KW - drug information services
KW - query
KW - pattern
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/pharmaceutical-sciences.1000446
U2 - 10.4172/pharmaceutical-sciences.1000446
DO - 10.4172/pharmaceutical-sciences.1000446
M3 - Article
SN - 0250-474X
VL - 80
SP - 965
EP - 970
JO - Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
JF - Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
IS - 5
ER -