Assessment and use of drug information references in Utah pharmacies

Abstract

Objective:To determine which drug references Utah pharmacists use most frequently. To determine which types of drug information questions are most commonly asked, and whether Utah pharmacists have access to adequate references to respond to these questions.Methods:A 19-question survey was created using Qualtrics, LLC (Provo, Utah) software. An electronic survey link was sent to 1,431 pharmacists with a valid e-mail address listed in the Department of Professional Licensing database. Questions focused on available references in the participant’s pharmacy, how current the references are, and the participant’s use of the references. Surveys were analyzed for participants practicing in either community or hospital pharmacies in the state of Utah.Results:A total of 147 responses were included in the analysis. Approximately 44% of respondents practiced in the community, and 56% practiced in a hospital setting. The most commonly used references by Utah pharmacists are Micromedex, Lexicomp, UpToDate, Clinical Pharmacology, and Drug Facts & Comparisons. Pharmacists in the community frequently receive questions related to adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, and over-the-counter medications. Pharmacists in the hospital frequently receive questions relating to dosage and administration, drug interactions, and adverse drug reactions. About 89% of community pharmacists and 96% of hospital pharmacists feel available references are adequate to answer the questions they receive.Conclusions:Utah pharmacists generally use large reference suites to answer drug information questions. The majority of pharmacists consider the references available to them to be adequate to answer the questions they receive.

Survey of Drug Information Database Preferences among Staff from Selected British Columbia Health Authorities

“…Among 8 studies conducted between 2002 and 2017, Lexicomp was the preferred drug information database in 3 studies 2,5,8 and Micromedex was the database of choice in only 1 study. 9 In the 4 remaining studies, [10][11][12][13] the Lexicomp and Micromedex databases were found to be comparable, as we observed in the current study. In our side-by-side statistical comparison of the 2 databases, we found that the Lexicomp database was rated higher on technical aspects such as layout, navigation, and speed, whereas the Micromedex product was rated higher on content aspects such as sufficiency of information and ability to solve drug-related questions.…”

Use of References in Responses from Scandinavian Drug Information Centres

“…The most extensive change in drug information sources concerns tertiary sources with electronic accessibility and improved user-friendliness for literature search. A recent survey of pharmacies in the United States found frequent use of tertiary sources [ 22 ]. About 89% of community pharmacists and 96% of hospital pharmacists reported that available tertiary references were adequate to answer the questions they received.…”

“…In most of the recommended sources, it is possible to submit a large number of concurrent drugs to check for interactions in an efficient way. We have previously shown that the number of drugs in the query does not influence the time spent answering it [ 20 , 22 ]. However, choice of drug interaction databases is of importance as open access drug interaction databases score statistically lower with regard to ownership, classification of interactions, primary information sources, and staff qualification [ 33 ].…”

Assessment of Drug Information Service in Public and Private Sector Tertiary Care Hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

“…A similar study conducted among pharmacy students and faculty at a university in the USA also reported the high preference for Lexi-Comp for seeking information [ 9 ]. Secondly, the increased use of Micromedex was also reported from hospitals across the globe [ 1 , 10 ].…”