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The continuing challenge of providing drug information services to diminish the knowledge—practice gap in medical practice

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Abstract

Information must be collected, evaluated and utilized to support every qualified activity. Medicine, with a written scientific tradition stretching back more than 2,000 years, is no exception. Here, we discuss a number of important items associated with the establishment of a drug information centre run by clinical pharmacologists and information pharmacists, serving a broad demand, mainly among clinical specialists. The working methods include a professional literature search, critical evaluation of the material, writing a structured answer, quality control, feedback to the inquirer and storage in a database which is publicly available. One can foresee even more complex systems wherein a number of active and specialized databases communicate to provide relevant advice and support at the point of care, supplying information on drug recommendations, reimbursement, environmental aspects, antimicrobial resistance, pharmacogenetics and adverse effects, and linked to a list of prescribed drugs for the individual patient. This will be possible in both rich and poor countries through the application of modern and developing information technology. However, research on the best and safest methods of such decision support systems will be needed to ensure that they really do improve the quality of drug prescribing and use.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented here has been possible due to the expertise and commitments of several colleagues over the years at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, at several Departments of Clinical Pharmacology in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and at the former Department of Drug Management and Informatics and the Janus project at Stockholm Healthcare Region. The concept with electronic SPCs was initiated by European Medicines Agency (EMA) and colleagues across academic and healthcare institutions in Europe. The Internet accessible Drugline has been developed in collaboration with SIDI (Swedish Institute for Drug Informatics) and its Technical Executive Officer Daniel Rodriguez. The Drugline project has been funded by SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden

    Gunnar Alván, Marine L. Andersson, Annika B. Asplund, Ylva Böttiger, Carl-Eric Elwin, Lars L. Gustafsson, Birgitta Öhman & Elisabeth Törnqvist

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  1. Gunnar Alván
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  2. Marine L. Andersson
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  3. Annika B. Asplund
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  4. Ylva Böttiger
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  5. Carl-Eric Elwin
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  6. Lars L. Gustafsson
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  8. Elisabeth Törnqvist
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Correspondence to Ylva Böttiger.

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Alván, G., Andersson, M.L., Asplund, A.B. et al. The continuing challenge of providing drug information services to diminish the knowledge—practice gap in medical practice. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 69 (Suppl 1), 65–72 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-013-1484-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-013-1484-x

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