- All > Medicine Information and Evidence for Policy > Information and Publications
- All > Medicine Access and Rational Use > Rational Use
- Keywords > computerized management - information systems
- Keywords > drug information
- Keywords > drug side effects
- Keywords > health personnel - education
- Keywords > information centre - medicine
- Keywords > information exchange
- Keywords > information network
- Keywords > information systems
- Keywords > medicine information centre (MIC)
- Keywords > rational prescribing
- Keywords > effets indésirables des médicaments
(1991; 2 pages)
This article written by Birgitta Öhman and Gunnar Alván discussed the initiative by Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden to create a regional drug information centre in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in 1974. Its aim was to provide vetted drug information on patient related drug problems to doctors and community physicians. The centre answers questions immediately if they are urgent, and otherwise uses the assistance of a database or original articles if they are available. The majority of questions involve adverse effects of medicines. A senior clinical pharmacologist approves all answers if a junior doctor or pharmacist is the respondent. In 1984 the centre created Drugline, a database that records all previous inquiries and answers for later reference. The article also includes a detailed example of the answer process, which includes a Drugline search, follow-up with the practitioner, additional database search, and a discussion of the answer at the centre’s weekly meeting. The network of drug information centres is sponsored by the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies, and at the time of the article was hoping to expand across Europe. The article concludes by stating that new communication technology would need to be utilized to advance the expansion of the network.
Abstract written by M. Tobin, 2013.