Drug Information

Abstract

Drug information refers to “current, critically examined, relevant data about drugs and drug use in a given patient in a particular situation”. Access to authentic information about drugs is an essential prerequisite for rational drug use. The various sources of drug information can be classified into primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary sources of drug information include unpublished studies, original articles published in reputed peer-reviewed journals reporting original research, ideas or opinions. Secondary sources of drug information refer to indexing and abstracting systems that organize and provide easy retrieval of primary resources. Tertiary sources of drug information summarize data from the primary literature and they include reference books, drug compendia, essential drugs list, treatment guidelines, drug formularies, drug bulletins and pharmacopoeias. Commercial sources of drug information refer to drug information from pharmaceutical companies or drug manufacturers with the main aim of promoting their drug and increasing the sales of their product. Computerized or electronic information systems and verbal information are the other sources of drug information. Drug information centres (DICs) also provide drug information (verbal and/or written) on request from the practicing physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, patients or the general public.