Computer applications in pharmacy

d Computer System in Hospital Pharmacy:

The computer has become a very common tool in all areas of

science and technology. With the proliferation of the Internet and

the developments in computer technology and manufacturing, the

ratio of price to performance of computers continues to decrease.

This has resulted in the development of number of computer

applications.

The field of pharmacy has immensely benefited by the use of

computer and will continue to benefit as the pharmacist's gain

more familiarity with computers. The complete field of pharmacy

requires computers. Some of the important areas where

computers are useful are new drug discovery, drug design,

analysis, manufacturing of drugs and hospital pharmacy. Other

than these, computers helps pharmacist collaborate with other

professionals, which is very essential in today's research work. It

also provides solutions for time consuming manual task.

Use of computers In hospital pharmacy

• In receiving and allotment of drugs

• Storing the details of every individual

Professional supplies

• Records of dispensed drugs to inpatient and outpatient

• Information of patients records

• Patient monitoring (blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature)

01
 4 Patterns of Computer use in Hospital Pharmacy:

For years now, whenever it has been suggested that pharmacy

could do more to improve patient outcomes, reduce General

Practitioners(GP) workloads and make a bigger contribution to the

healthcare system, one of the barriers that invariably gets

mentioned is IT and, in particular, access to patient records.

Recent trends suggest that pharmacy professionals are starting to

utilize the benefits of computer systems and databases.

4 Patient record database_management:

Slowly but surely, pharmacies are trialling access to electronic

information about patients -- with their consent, mostly pulled from

GP records, and on a read-only basis.

Computer databases for information about medicines, and

medical treatment in general, are used within pharmacies. These

database systems allow pharmacy staff to find out information

about any potential conflicts or health-care problems in a

prescribed treatment, as well as information about the details of

any particular medicine the pharmacist needs to know more

about. This information may include ingredients and potential

effects as well as research and scientific data.

The access of patient record database also proved beneficial in

identifying prescribing errors -- and the pharmacists feel they had

been able to reduce the risk of patient harm. The pharmacies

would mostly be accessing patient records to assist in the

provision of emergency supplies to confirm what a patient was

taking and at what dose.

02
 .,
i

Category Order Date/Time Status Vilt.«

• /ft
MEDICATIONS (8)

.ld

Aspirin E
C Tab (Aspit...) 08/29/12 1530 Active

P081MG DAILY

Last Admin: 08/30/12 0800

Furosemide Tab (Las.) 08/29/12 1600 Active

PO80MG BID

Last Admin: 08/30/12 0800

Digo~in Ta
b (Digit.J 08/29/12 1632 Active bed

P00.125 MG DALY
bed St
Last Admin: 08,/30/12 0800

Md/fled
Metoprolol Tartrate Tab (Lopres..) 08/29/12 1635 Active

P0 25MG 012H

Last Admin: 08/30/12 0800

Nitroglycerin St a
b (Nitroqu..) 08/29/12 1640 Active

$L0.4MG Q5MIN PRN

EEC i- JC Fa J C 5 - J C z ]

Example of a computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) system.

Some of the advantages of Patient record database:

• Pharmacists review the data with several key pharmacy­

related aspects in mind; this will permit concise data

collection while providing the pharmacist with adequate

information to develop recommendations to optimize

pharmacotherapy.

• Clinical pharmacist may dive right into the chart to seek out

antibiotic orders and laboratory data for serum drug

concentrations and renal function assessments, whereas a

cardiology pharmacy specialist may initially search for blood

03
 pressure values from the physical examination in order to

assess the effectiveness of a patient's antihypertensive drug

regimen.

• The pharmacist may find data lacking in some areas, which

will require clarification via additional patient interviewing.

For example, a patient's chart may indicate an allergy to

penicillin, but the specific reaction not be identified.

• The pharmacist can identify pertinent positive and negative

components that are key to the development of an

assessment and plan.

• Security - Electronic medical records are stored within

secure databases where they can never be lost or misfiled.

For additional protection, tools like data backup ensure files

are never destroyed due to fire, disaster or other

unforeseeable events. In addition, only authorized users may

access files.

• Safety - Efficient regulation of medications can improve a

patient's quality of care and helps prevent dangerous and

avoidable oversights. When a prescription is written, the

advantage an patient medical record system provides is the

automatic initiation of drug-to-drug and drug-to-allergy

interaction checks. These checks reduce the risk of improper

prescriptions and related issues that can compromise quality

of care.

04
 4 Medication order entry:

Prescription processing is invariably one of the main activities

going on within a pharmacy on a day-to-day basis, and computers

are used to make this process more reliable and efficient. Both

the customer service side of pharmacy operation and the

dispensing aspect are today carried out through the use of

computing systems. Pharmacy computers also handle customer

service activities such as sales and cash handling within the retail

operation.

Medication Order Management System is a electronic-based,

automated order management and robust clinical intervention

tracking tool that enables hospital pharmacies to identify key

safety, quality, productivity and clinical improvements.

For hospitals implementing Computerized Medication Order

Management Systems, Medication Order Management System is

designed to supplement a Medication Order Management

Systems environment, so that your hospital truly benefits from a

complete affordable order entry solution.

o Improve productivity, quality and nursing satisfaction with

advanced, real-time productivity, clinical and quality

reporting metrics

o Complement Medication Order Management Systems

technology, utilizing flexible contract and billing terms to shift

pricing models

o Improve operational efficiency and patient safety

The process of prescribing and administering a medication

involves several steps, each of which has vulnerabilities that are

05
addressed-to greater or lesser degrees-by Medication Order

Management Systems:

1 . Ordering: the clinician must select the appropriate

medication and the dose and frequency at which it is to be

administered.

2. Transcribing: if handwritten, the prescription must be read

and understood by the recipient (usually a pharmacy

technician or pharmacist).

3. Dispensing: the pharmacist must check for drug-drug

interactions and allergies, then release the appropriate

quantity of the medication in the correct form.

4. Administration: the medication must be received by the

correct person and supplied to the correct patient at the right

time in the right dosage. In hospitalized patients, nurses are

generally responsible for this step, but in the outpatient

setting, this step is the patient's or caregiver's responsibility.

Medication Order Management Systems are generally paired with

some form of clinical decision support system (COSS), which can

help prevent errors at the medication ordering and dispensing

stages and can improve safety of other types of orders as well. A

typical COSS suggests default values for drug doses, routes of

administration, and frequency and may offer more sophisticated

drug safety features, such as checking for drug allergies or drug­

drug or even drug-laboratory (e.g., warning a clinician before

ordering a nephrotoxic medication in a patient with elevated

creatinine) interactions.

06
Entering information into computer system:

a. Information required is prompted.

b. Quantities are expressed in metric units.

c. Input the correct dispense as written (DAW) code (e.g., DAW

1 would indicate the prescriber wants the brand name drug

dispensed).

d. Calculate a day's supply of medication.

e. Third-party adjudication: Submitting prescription for payment

by third-party drug insurance provider. If the prescription

drug insurance company denies payment, the patient is

responsible for full payment of the prescription unless the

rejected claim is corrected and resubmitted to the third-party

prescription drug provider.

f. Drug utilization evaluation (review): Process of verifying that

the prescription being processed does not interact adversely

with the other medications on a patient's profile. If a warning

is observed, the pharmacist is to be notified immediately to

determine the proper course of action in filling the

prescription, such as contacting the physician or to continue

filling the prescription. The pharmacist makes a decision

based on the information on hand.

4 Drug labels

Computerized Medication Order Management Systems allows

prescribers to create a structured sig but also offers two additional

fields: "Special Instructions" and "Comments." "Special

Instructions" are transmitted to the pharmacy and are intended to

be printed on the label, such as "do not drive while taking" or

07
"avoid sun exposure." However, prescribers sometimes enter

comments that contradict the sig. For example, they might order a

medication with frequency "once daily" and then add the comment

"take two times a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday." This

ambiguity can lead to confusion for pharmacists (and patients),

resulting in callbacks for clarifications, significant dispensing

delays, and dispensing and labeling errors.

4 Drug Lists:

Some Computerized Medication Order Management Systems list

drugs alphabetically. Most systems have support for both

browsing (e.g., picking a drug from a list) alphabetically and

searching for a specific drug by entering a search string; however,

the latter method is by far the more common paradigm. Auto­

complete is a term used for a functionalities that try to predict

what the user is typing and includes both auto-suggest and auto­

fill capabilities. Auto-suggest presents users with suggestions that

they may choose as they are typing in the first few letters of a

drug name.

4_F
lvst.2$ el tl.let

[tevfoll4 lit

lvop.l2mg l tt
lvon.tole Des cl
woe 4wo o in g 6nl t.bl4t

loon2me 0l tblt

lot6on

lvon )6 el tablet

evocrtn .n ult

08
Administration-Electronic Medication Administration

Record (eMAR):

4 Intravenous solution and admixtures

The combination of bar code verification technology with an

eMAR was implemented to further reduce administration errors.

The eMAR system electronically receives patient profile

information from the pharmacy system. This process eliminates

the need for nurses or unit secretaries to transcribe physician

orders, therefore potentially reducing transcription errors. At the

bedside, bar code/eMAR allows for real-time confirmation of

patient identification, medication, dose, and time of administration

by automatically checking the scanned medications against the

patient's eMAR profile.

By the help of this computerized system Intravenous solution and

admixtures can be rationally prescribed and administered.

Together, barcode scanning in the pharmacy and bar code/eMAR

systems on the inpatient units have the potential to improve

zz. medication safety by reducing post-ordering

medication errors.

Including smart pumps in a closed-loop,

point-of-care medication administration

system can further improve medication

safety. The goal is to provide seamless

digital pathway from Computerized

Medication Order Management System to

the patient vein.

09
 4 Patient medication profiles:

A patient medication profile is a comprehensive summary of all

regular medications taken by a patient, including prescription,

over-the-counter and complementary medicines. Current

medication profiles may vary in format and the level and type of

information provided.

The aim of the Patient Medication Profiling Program is to reduce

the risk of medication-related adverse events by assisting people

to understand and manage their medications, including

prescription, overthe-counter and complementary medicines.

The provision of a medication profile to patients is expected to

improve their awareness of their medications (i.e identifying them,

understanding why they have been prescribed and when and how

they should be taken). The medication profile will also give

patients confidence in self medication management, and support

communication between the patient and other health

professionals, especially on admittance to hospitals or aged care

homes.

Pharmacists participating in the program will be subsidised to

provide patient medication profiles to a specified number of

patients who would benefit from the provision of a profile.

Patient medication profile usually Includes:

o medication brand name ;

o list of alternative brand names;

o medication generic name:

o medication strength and form;

10
 o dose and frequency;

o special directions or cautions;

o reason for use; and

o a coloured pictorial representation or product

description for items not on the system (eg

complementary medicines).

Example of Patient Medication Profile:

WTU Patient Medication

Profiles

• •
volte

4Lett/f
•
ADE T, AMARINE •

gt ] ht ] he r

raw][LET •
'
u]

def nee hoer f

ice.6aPe [

rat r DeeSa #

ANTI#ME ABOL
T
0 0
•

c
AtIOIC/ANVERTIGO A.GeNT
• • 0

TN404.CY000

0 8 •

11
 d Inventory Control;

It is extremely difficult to maintain inventory details manually

especially with several thousand items like drugs, instruments,

linen and furniture, etc. in the hospital. The result is that most

hospitals are regularly throwing away large quantities of expired

drugs and by the time, one is able to do the stock checking the

status gets changed entirely.

Thus, computerized systems are helpful in checking billing and

accounts, obviating long line, totaling mistakes, wrong entries and

quarreling of patients are the hallmarks of manual accounts. Bills

of patients, staff and other things are computerized and such

scenes are averted.

So in all these fields, computers are of immense help and save

manual labor, time as well as money.

Pharmacy Inventory: Product Entry

--
- - - - - ·-r-·
-

•
e
ot i

a
lit

ewe ,L u i

wil l
- a

-�: I_;;_
·-
.
'
--
% '

-
- '
'
t el

12
 d Management report & Statistics

The pharmacy management reports include information about the

drugs that are being dispensed to gain new insight into what you

dispense, to whom, how much , and from where. These reports

help in

• Learning more about your drug pricing and billing workflow

by facility and price options. Understanding the ins and outs

of your pricing structure and the way you bill is a great way

to help make more of your margins.

Understand more about the patients you serve through

searchable prescription histories. Narrow them down based

on the selected criteria.

•• Create reports on billing payments, prescription revenue and

profit margins.

Generate daily logs, claims reports, compliance reports and

so many more.

13
 Computer in Community Pharmacy

Automation of the dispensing process in community pharmacy is

nothing new. Computer systems for pharmacy management have

been on the market for many years, and almost all community

pharmacies now use computers to manage the processing of

prescriptions.

Although both pharmacists' use of computers and the capability of

computer systems themselves have increased dramatically during

the past few years, most pharmacies have either failed to utilize

their computers to their fullest or have not kept up with the rapidly

changing applications that are available.

In the past, community pharmacy computer systems have been

developed to support the transaction-processing approach used

in dispensing, wherein only information about the prescriptions

being dispensed and limited demographics about the patient were

entered and retained in the computer system.

Usage of computers In the Community Pharmacy:

• Providing a receipt for the patient

• Record of transaction of money

Ordering low quantity of products via electronic transitions

• Generation of multiple analysis for day, week, month for

number of prescription handles and amounts of cash.

• Estimation of profits and financial rational analysis

• Printing of billing and payment details

• Inventory control purpose

14
 • Whenever the drugs or medicaments are added to the stock

or else removed from stock; the position of stock gets

updated instantaneously.

• Records of various drug data, i.e., drug data information

• Computers are useful for getting the complete drug

information which is used lo satisfy the queries by patients

about toxicology, adverse drug reactions, and drug-drug and

drug-food interactions.

• Drug Bank Data Base gives complete and detailed

description of drug (pharmacological and pharmaceutical

action) and also involves bioinformatics and

cheminformation .

4 Computerizing the Prescription Dispensing process;

P rescription processing is invariably one of the main activities

going on within a pharmacy on a day-to-day basis, and computers

are used t
o make this process more reliable and efficient. Both

the customer service side of pharmacy operation and the

dispensing aspect are today carried out through the use of

co mputing systems. Pharmacy computers also handle customer

service activities such as sales and cash handling within the retail

operation.

P rocess:

This system is so designed to assist the pharmacist h various

wit

tasks. T hese include receiving prescriptions, dispensing of

medicines, checking for accuracy, and payment. T his system

consists of automated dispensing devices, a t ray-transfer line, a

reception number indicator screen installed in the waiting room,

15
and a terminal to provide patients with additional information. The

prescription data are instantly transmitted to the respective

dispensing positions and the prescriptions are dispensed

simultaneously. The trays travel efficiently on the tray-transfer

line. The host computer performs such functions as input of

information of prescriptions, accounting calculations, integrating

prescription audit, and preparation of printing data for medicine

bags. The control computer, which receives prescription data from

the host computer. sorts and sends instruction data on

prescriptions to the automated dispensing machines, outputs

instructions on the preparation of medicines in the manual

dispensing sector. and controls the tray-transfer line. the turn

tables and the reception number indicator screen.

The computerized dispensing system has produced the following

results:

1) Improvement in the quality of the dispensing work;

2) Reduction in the time required for dispensing medicines;

3) Improvement in the quality of service to patients;

4) Improvement in the efficiency of the clerical work in non­

dispensing work;

5) Improvement in work efficiency.

16
 dyse pf Computers for Pharmaceutical Care in

community pharmacy

Pharmaceutical Care is a patient-centered, outcomes oriented

pharmacy practice that requires the pharmacist to work in concert

with the patient and the patient's other healthcare providers to

promote health, to prevent disease, and to assess, monitor,

initiate, and modify medication use to assure that drug therapy

regimens are safe and effective. The goal of Pharmaceutical Care

is to optimize the patient's health-related quality of life, and

achieve positive clinical outcomes, within realistic economic

expenditures. Computers play a v tai l role n pharmaceutical

i re
ca

and thereby promoting patient's health.

• Pharmacists must collect and/or generate subjective and

objective information regarding the patient's g eneral health

and activity status, past medical history, medication history,

so cial history, diet and exercise history, history of present

ness, and economic situation

ill (fi nancial and insured status).

Computers make this process more easy.

• Computers help n
i development of an outcomes-oriented

drug therapy plan ased

b upon a thorough understanding of

the patient and his/her co ndition or disease and its

treatment.

• Patient Counseling: Pharmacist can print counseling

handout, prescription l abel and invoice.

• Computers help n
i monitoring the patient's progress n
i

achieving the specific outcomes according t

o strategy

developed i
n the drug therapy plan.

17
• Patient Profile: Pharmacist can updated patient profile

whenever a new prescription is filled. Also if the patient might

have any symptoms like allergies, it can be added to patient

profile.

• Computers help the pharmacist coordinate changes in the

plan with the patient and the patient's other healthcare

providers as necessary and appropriately to maintain or

enhance the safety and/or effectiveness of drug therapy and

to help minimize overall healthcare costs.

• Drug-drug interactions: many software vendors offer

programs for drug interaction. The pharmacist must check

the patient's profile and prescription to determine if there is

interaction.

• Patient progress is accurately documented in the pharmacy

record and communicated to the patient and to the patient's

other healthcare providers as appropriate using the

computer database/record management systems.

• Computer assist the pharmacist in sharing information with

other healthcare providers as the setting for care changes

thus helping assure continuity of care as the patient moves

between the community setting, the institutional setting, and

the long-term care setting.

• Using computers pharmacist can record the conclusions of

the Information evaluation in the medical and/or pharmacy

record.

18
 d Accounting and_General ledger system;

Accounting:

There are three basic accounting methods used by health-care

organizations: cash basis, accrual basis, and fund accounting.

1 . Cash based accounting: Cash-basis accounting

recognizes income and expense only when cash is received

or disbursed. It is a simple method of accounting that ignores

liabilities for purchases made but not yet received, and

assets earned but not yet collected. Financial reports

generated by cash-basis accounting can be grossly

misleading and inaccurate. Cash-basis accounting is

typically limited to individuals or small community

organizations.

2. Accrual basis: The accrual basis of accounting is used for

most businesses. This method seeks to "accrue" revenues

and expenses to the proper period in which they are earned.

This is a large part of the monthly close process for the

controller and staff. For the monthly fi nancial statements to

be accurate, the controller and staff must ensure that all

transactions for the month are properly recorded, regardless

of whether cash has been received or paid.

3. Fund accounting: This is typically used by governmental

entities and academic medical centers. Fund accounting

establishes specific funds for a variety of uses. Two

examples include an equipment replacement fund and the

19
 general fund. The equipment replacement fund would be

used to replace specific equipment in the future. The general

fund serves as the operating fund for the entity.

d General Ledger

The general ledger uses a set of accounts organized according to

their type. The term chart of accounts simply refers to the listing of

all available general ledger account numbers. The number of

digits varies by the pharmacy, but a typical number is six. The

following table demonstrates a typical configuration for organizing

the chart of accounts:

Acct.leg«

lo

.on

__
•·�
,
·--
60 4o,if seceded

General ledger accounts are further organized within the category

listed above. For example, 100.000 may be used for the general

cash account, whereas 120.000 may be used as a patient

receivables account. Some hospitals maintain detailed general

ledgers using a separate account for tracking specific details.

Other pharmacies organize the general ledger in a broader

manner and use subsidiary ledgers to provide detail.

20
 Drug [formation Retrieval&Storage

d Introduction:

Availability of authentic drug information is the key to promote

rational use of drugs, a well accepted concept in clinical practice

in the developed world. Drug information is an essential element

in achieving health goals and information is an aid to decision

making. The objectives of drug information center is to collect

information, to evaluate and compare drugs, to provide an

education and teaching aid for health care personnel, to assist

clinicians in the selection of safe and effective medication and to

enable pharmacists and pharmacy students to develop their

abilities in providing information on drugs and medicines.

Large hospitals develop and staff a new division of the

department of pharmacy which is commonly referred to as 'Drug

Information Center". This new concept in hospital pharmacy

operation is usually located in a separate section of pharmacy,

containing large number of reference texts, journals, reprints and

brochures. They are also equipped with electronic data

processing equipments and staff. Now computers have possible

networking of regional drug information centers made located in

different hospitals. Networking on regional, national, sub

continentals, intercontinental levels had placed Drug Information

Services at a global level.

Drug information is both a body of data and information about

medications and a set of skills and tools that provide pharmacy

professionals with the ability to find, access, understand, interpret,

apply and communicate information and acquire knowledge. The

21
body of facts and information pertaining to medications is

generally referred to as "the drug literature". The literature of

pharmacy and pharmaceutics encompasses all aspects of drugs,

beginning with isolation or synthesis, including physical analysis,

bioactivity, toxicology, clinical research, market research, and

economic and social considerations. The drug literature, reflecting

all the individuals who create it and use it, such as chemists,

biomedical scientists, all the various health care professionals,

attorneys, and patients, is vast and complex. Different kinds of

publications are available in the library like journals, abstracting

and indexing publications, books, compendia, monographs,

patents proceedings, reviews, FDA-approved labeling (package

inserts), house organs, newsletters, promotional literature,

government documents, and analysis by consulting services.

Drug information skills coupled with the processes and technology

offered by informatics are part of the solution to mastering

information overload and maintaining the knowledge system that

improves patient care outcomes.

22
 d Drug information_Retrieval Systems;

As a drug moves along the path from discovery to the market and

into worldwide use, data and information about the agent are

created and accumulate. When this information is published, its

value and usefulness to scientific, professional, and patient

communities becomes known. Publication of research results at

each step of the path is essential. The path of drug development

and marketing offers a structure that is useful to scientists and

practioners concerned with compounds of potential therapeutic

value.

The resources themselves are classified as: primary (original

research), secondary (indexing and abstracting services), and

tertiary (textbooks and evaluated information). Individual

resources are now generally available in more than one physical

format; for example, a journal may be available as a paper

publication or as an electronic publication (either individually or as

part of a publisher's electronic journal collection or content

collection). Primary, secondary, and tertiary resources are

available for each step in the path of drug development, but

reporting time increases from each step to the next.

1, Preclinical Drug information:

At this point a compound is recognized and then considered for

potential pharmaceutical or therapeutic usefulness;

researchers will be both consumers of and contributors lo the

data information-knowledge cycle that characterizes science.

Initially, in the synthesis and purification phase of drug

development, information about the compound's chemistry and

23
 physical properties may be both sought and created. Whether

or not the compound has been of interest to other researchers

may be determined by searching public records of grant and

contract awards and also by searching resources that cover

preliminary and early research results. The patent status of the

compound may need to be established.

a) Physical and chemical data: AIDSDRUGS, Beilstein,

CAS Registry, Chemcyclopedia, ChemFinder, Chemical

Abstracts, ChemlD plus, Chemindex plus and The Merck

Index.

b) Patents: U. S. Patent and Trademark. Office Web Patent

Databases offer free WWW access,

http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm, to a bibliographic

patent database that uses the most current patent

classification system. The Delphion Intellectual Property

Network. (IPN) is a research tool for patent information.

2. Phase IV Studies and Post Marketing Drug Information

During the Phase IV Studies and Post Marketing Drug Information

stages a thorough literature search is required to find material

relevant lo the clinical use of the drug. This will require not only

searching the basic bibliographic databases such as Biological

Abstracts, EMBASE, IDIS, IPA, MEDLINE, and Science Citation

Index, but also searching the patent literature. using Patent and

Trademark Office Web Patent Databases.

The following bibliographic databases provide access to the full

span of life-science periodical literature, including all stages of a

24
compound's development from early brief reports to

comprehensive assessments after years of clinical use.

BI0SIS

EMBASE

International pharmaceutical Abstracts

•• MEDLINE

❖ Pubmed Central

• Science Citation Index

s erteite fr Deng ha fort io lafonio provided

ad related information
•
I wwe.ashp.en/s. shpbee drug.shortas Aerie ociet of llealt.$tee

as£
e. rny Shortage: Drug Short.age

Reounce Center with updated rra ag n

t of

hort +e

2 wow.ede.Ae r Die Cotrot: Public heath

(enters fa

gude
hes, v.acne ad travel info
rmation, ad

(pule.to

3 • Id.sy Food d Deg Adeidtrtie: Drug ad

ioloes information 6approval, shortage,

orange Book, news, etc). Be sure to cliel

CBER fat b ologes ad CDER for drug

on.to
inf

4 www.boos.mds.onull.s.on Fullest bools and journals, drug information,

mews,CME, rd patient leaflet. Requires fee

ad word

$ .gudc.lines.go at Guidelines(egringo. Pule

reorte fo evidence-bed clonal pctee

guideline established by the over t

A foe lHeace Research ad

6 www.bsalb.ah.a ati etitts f Health: Inf 0of

dee state feeach, ad federal health

fr
om tde NIH

wweb am.ho/entrecd ti Lir of Medielee: Pub.Med.

searchable listing ofabstracts ofmed%el

'
biter

I www-edl med_uuh ed ccles llelth cies Libry;

peers. E

Library catalog ful-text jot ,+ hable

et

9 %w.4 h e th edupheareeyidrssnf f liverity of th llpital & (lide

£9 Dug left.tie Srieet laforn t o ot

or serve, photons, and drag so rta

M hunks are f
or iterate .

25
General gif@rs
www. llincpls.gov Site links to patient drug category d hea.hd

IO monographs, medical dtonnes, health

professional directories and other resources such

on and health lire

wwow.health.oh.gov tioat ltitutes f lleat: [formation oe

II
dice states, ft.each, ad federal health progr

fr
om the NIH

www.cnwm.ong Specialize in Depression H etg . Deg Reaction.

12
Deerssien
[run·Alm.Medine. Dr
$ r and .n ar y ofother ad service

sc ±or baas
alioal.so
w.shins tied ltitutes f 4feat .(liiAlfi

Directory ofclinical trials in progress. C s«each

13
dee state or i
fie +et

www.phnoghnewredeired eforation on drugs in the pipeline. Ca each by

disease state ad therapeutic categories. Good

14 unary artle on topic related to drug

de

wwwcneerge/ehinealtrals fie for clinical

itiod(er ltitut Sgeei
15
rah to treat canoe

www.patintadvosate. ltieat Advocate Fendtio; Patient resource

•• 4 mean to par
tpten hotel triad and
16
invetatoed

www.boss.oope.s.on Lists of investigatioal drugs n pipeline by dice

17
st.ate Major lit.atone mt pay for shoe.al

info0raton

wuwwceterwtchdo Provides tr.al data ad erah-notification service to

18 interested in pr
hpwag inclined trials
pat

Professional investigation drug infonation ca be

ice floe
foul fer ubcnibing to the serv

sub tial fee

26
 d Drug Literature:

The concept of drug information service or drug information

center is an attempt to document drugs by abstracting information

about them. The information about drugs is collected from various

sources which are available. In 1972 Walton et al modeled the

drug literature as a pyramid with the primary literature forming the

base of the pyramid, the secondary literature interfacing and

serving as a bridge from the primary literature to reference works

(tertiary literature).

1. Primary Literature:

Pnmary literature contains the first written accounts of

original research. In terms of size, the primary literature is

probably larger than either the secondary or tertiary

literature. It is the original information presented by the

author without any evaluation by the second party, for

example, articles published in journals, dissertations,

conferences, etc.

2. Secondary Literature:

In this original information is modified, condensed,

commented upon by other persons like review articles,

abstracts, text books, etc. These include - Indexing and

Abstracting services, Evaluated Secondary Resources and

Internet search engines.

3. Tertiary Literature:

In this information is gathered from primary and secondary

sources and arranged in such a manner to give coupled

27
 information. The tertiary literature is a distillation and

evaluation of data and information first presented in such

primary literature sources as research reports, meeting

presentations, and journal articles. But just as characteristic,

the tertiary is the most accessible, easiest to use, and

perhaps the most used of all information resources.

Information searches generally start with a perusal of books,

reviews, and handbooks. These include - Aggregated and

linked references such as MICROMEDEX Systems and

StatRef.

4 Advantages of Computerized Literature Retrieval;

✓ Save time, space, money

Save effort, person-hours and greater efficiency.

✓ Online Computerized services offer Term Searching of

Fields, Controlled vocabulary and Indexes.

✓ Online Computerized services offer Search Commands for

Creating search sets, Boolean operation, Word searching

and Search limiting.

✓ Online Computerized databases offer Computerized greater

Precision.

Qualitatively different kinds of searches are possible.

Easier to assess quality of information found More cues:

authorship, institutional affiliation, reputation, references, ...

✓ Processing of search results: Sort, rank, report, export,

integration with Intranet/portal, ...

Highly Focused information that is actionable

They offer evidence for their claims.

28
✓ Provides great reading with a wealth of knowledge.

✓ Broadened perspective.

Most articles contained in journals include graphs, tables,

images & photographs, videos, etc., which help illustrate the

information being portrayed.

✓ Unlike in the print copies days when you could only access

information physically in libranes, academic journals online

come with the option of free downloads which allow you to

save material to your PC or Smartphone.

✓ Online journals are like encyclopedias, offering information in

large quantities to scholars. There's a wide variety of

databases to source information from, but it's so much

easier to access this information online because all you need

is a computer and internet.

✓ Academic journals include real life case studies which are

excellent sources of in-depth information and knowledge.

✓ Academic journals online come with several research

options, which helps widen your scope. They allow you to

explore both quantitative and qualitative research, for

optimum results. With both, you can analyze statistical data,

opinions, verbal data, etc.

29
 d y s e o f Computerized Retrieval

Today computers provide us with powerful tools for drug

information handling - for collection, organisation, classification,

retrieval and distribution. Computers have been used since the

late 1960s for the storage of large databases such as library

catalogues and bibliographic references. Development of optical

storage media such as CD-ROM has given us the possibility of

storing large quantities of text, graphics, pictures, and sound at a

low cost. These new optical memories can function as distributed

stores for encyclopedias, databases, books etc. This has

stimulated the development of local information systems.

These three aspects of computerized information retrieval:

o Library catalogues.

o Online databases.

o Databases on CO-ROM.

Types of databases

There are a number of types of databases:

1. Library catalogues - catalogues covering the holdings

(books, reports. journals conference proceedings, etc.) of

one or more library.

2. Blbllographlc databases containing bibliographic

references, with or without abstracts.

3. Reference databases, for example, current research

projects, handbooks, encyclopedias, product suppliers, etc.

30
 4. Factual databases or data banks containing information,

often in numerical form, which can be used directly, e.g.

chemical structures, tables, terminology.

5. Full-text databases which contain the complete version of

the text of given publications.

Computerised library catalogues

Computerised library catalogues were first introduced during the

late 1960s. The online catalogue, known as the Online Public

Access Catalogue. or OPAC, has gradually become more user

friendly with the use of menus and simple commands. Access for

users is now often in the form of a Web (World Wide Web)

interface.

The computerised library catalogues allow you to:

• Check t
o see if a certain book or journal is available at the

brary or
li

• See which books are available on a specific subject

• S ee whether or not a book is currently available or out on

loan.

A ccess to databases

nformation from
I the primary sources has been collected together

and organised under subject headings and authors in reference

databases. These can b e accessed n a number of ways:

i

• S earching ontine from a database mounted on a host

computer from a commercial information retrieval service

(IRS). This requires a password.

• By means of a searchable compact disk CD-ROM database.

31
 From a database with WWW interface mounted either locally

or available from a remote server.

Online information retrieval from databases is the acquisition of

information from a distant computer via a terminal or PC, involving

an interactive dialogue between enquirer and computer. The

computer handles a number of databases stored in electronic

form, consisting of references to journal articles, conference

papers, reports, books etc, which the Information Retrieval

Service (IRS) or 'host' makes available to interested parties, such

as university libraries, on a commercial basis.

CD-ROMs and WWW interfaces have been designed for end­

users. They are relatively user-friendly and the search software is

(more-or-less) self explanatory. Today, CD-ROMs often are

mounted on a server so in reality the user will not be able to

notice any differences between using online databases or a CD­

ROM.

32