Written By: Hanan Khalaf. RPH

Drug information refers to any information about drugs provided either verbally or in written format. Pharmacists are considered leaders, among health care professionals, in this era based on their comprehensive knowledge about the nature of medications. In fact, providing information about medications is one of the fundamental responsibilities of all pharmacists, and it assumes the acquisition of minimal skills that will help pharmacists to do so in their daily practice.

In the current practice, the term medication information is replacing drug information term to delineate the broader role that the pharmacists take in the provision of information delivery.

On the other hand, the specific identity or setting whereby such an activity is conducted in a formal way is called drug information center or service. The type of activities performed in such centers varies according to the setting or need. However, the following points can summarize the activities that are commonly performed as part of medication information process:

1. Answering questions that might be patient-specific or relative to a group of patients.

2. Support for the activity of the Pharmacy and Therapeutic committee.

3. Education for other health professionals or students.

4. Support for the process of Medication Use Evaluation.

5. Poison information.

Poison information refers to the part of medication information that is specialized in the area of poison control and is dedicated to provide accurate and timely information to enhance the quality of patient’s care. This type of service is usually provided as part of the medication information services or it could be provided by centers specialized in handling poison information only.

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Written by Amer Khalaf

Category: Hospital Pharmacy