INFORMATION RESOURCES IN PHARMACY

- Prioritize resources available
- Know the content of the source
- Be proficient in searching the info

For any given query, the pharmacist must:

Tertiary Resources

-This are summaries or digestive version of primary literature.
- First stop in information searching

Textbooks
Compendia
- Annual Physician’s Desk Reference/ Monthly Index of Medical Specialties  
Review Articles in Journals
Full- Text Computer Databases
- Example: Up-to-Date
Other General Information
Examples:
Google, Research Gate, NCBI, Google Scholar, Formularies, Pharmacopoeias

Examples of Tertiary Resources

- Easy to use
- Familiar to most practitioners
- Concise overview of info. on a specific topic
- Convenient
- Fairly complete information

Advantages of Tertiary Resources

- Less current information
- Information may not be complete
- Errors in transcription or incorrect interpretation of information
- Human bias and lack of expertise by the authors

Disadvantages of Tertiary Resources

- Appropriate experience/expertise of the author in the area
- Timely information based on publication date
Information supported by appropriate citations
- Relevant information
- Absence of bias or blatant errors

POINTERS OF EVALUATING TERTIARY RESOURCES

- AHFS DRUG INFORMATION (American Hospital Formulary Services)
- DRUGS FACTS AND COMPARISONS
- DRUG INFORMATION HANDBOOK

TERTIARY RESOURCES

AHFS DRUG INFORMATION (American Hospital Formulary Services)

TERTIARY RESOURCES
- monographs on FDA approved and off-label uses of medications
- information about dosing in specific populations
- general information about medications
- compatibility and stability of injectable formulations

DRUGS FACTS AND COMPARISONS

TERTIARY RESOURCES
- information organized according to drug class
- specific agents and inactive ingredients in commercial preparations
- contains comparative monographs of drugs classes distinguished between agents of the same class

DRUG INFORMATION HANDBOOK

TERTIARY RESOURCES
- brief product monographs with info on clinical use, safety and drug monitoring for FDA approved and offlabel use of medications
- also contains useful appendices on treatment options and comparison of agents in the same class

Secondary Resources

Helps locate (bridge to) primary literature.
- Indexing
- Abstracting

Indexing

SECONDARY RESOURCES
- Consists of providing bibliographic citation information
Note: List of Citation based on Topics  

Abstracting

SECONDARY RESOURCES
- Includes a brief description of the information provided by the article or resource cited
Note: Summaries to determine article relevance
Example: Database in the Internet

PubMed
Scopus
Embase

Example of Secondary Resources

Primary Resources

Published and unpublished clinical research studies and reports

Note:
- Original Research (Clinical Trials, Case Reports, or Cohorts Studies)
- Foundation for evidence based practice

Review articles or editorials found in journals
Review articles 
- General Overview
- Meta Analyses

What is NOT a primary literature?

- Access to more detailed information
- Personally assess the utility and validity of study results
- More recent than the other two types

Advantages of Primary Resources

- May provide misleading conclusion due to only one trial
- Time consuming due to volume of literature available
- Need good skills in evaluation biomedical literature

Disadvantages of Primary Resources

- American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
- Drug Information Journal
- Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Pharmacy Times
- Pharmacoeconomics

Examples of Primary Resources

- News Organization
Ex: Philippine Pharmacist Association
Experts in the Field
Electronic Bulletin Boards
Product Manufacturers

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF INFORMATION

- ClinNet
- FDA
- PharmLine
- PharmNet
- Helix

Examples of Alternative Sources of Information