Drug Informatics

Lecture 1: Introduction to the concept of drug

informatics
PHR3100
Naschmil Abdulla
MSc Clinical Pharmacy Practice
naschmil.abdulla@komar.edu.iq

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Learning outcome
Following completion of this lecture, students should:
• Define the term drug information and understand its history
• Identify reasons, aim and objectives for providing drug informatics
• Describe the skills needed to perform drug informatics
• Identify the services provided by drug information specialists
• Identify major factors that have influenced the ability to provide drug
information

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“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or
we know where we can find information upon it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

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Drug informatics and the history of drug
information
Drug informatics involves discovery, use, and management of information in the use of medications,
covering identification, cost, and pharmacokinetics, dosage and adverse effects

• First use of “drug information” described a specific practice area of pharmacy traced back to 1960
United states University of Kentucky
• A step toward integration of the pharmacist into patient care team providing expertise and
knowledge of drug therapy
• In the past 50 years; a growing number of drug information centers in operation owing to a variety
of factors; acceptance of clinical pharmacist’s role in patient care, need for quick access to current
information
• Focus is on medication safety, advances in pharmacy informatics, evidence-based medicine,
formulary management, medication policy development

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Think, pair and share

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Why drug informatics needed
• Number of medicines in the international market has increased rapidly
• Newer medicine are more selective, potent and involve complex regimen
• Medicine literature has been expand and covers a much broader range of
information
• Pharmacy profession has to evaluate newly introduced medicine when released
into practice
• Pharmacopoeia as a reference guide is no longer sufficient

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Aims and objectives of drug information services
• information provision to healthcare professionals on specific drug related
problems in terms of patient safety
• Information provision to governmental officials to optimize the decision making
process
• Development of clinical guidelines and formularies
• Improve patient compliance in providing guidance on self-medication
• Participation in continuous educational programs

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Drug information and the expert
• Drug information provision, involves the assessment of adverse drug reaction
information, supporting student and drug information specialist, educating and
training and stimulating the develop of additional drug information
centers/spcialist
• Provision of drug information is an integral part of the extended role of the
pharmacists who completed specialized training in drug information
• Specialists in drug information are skilled in locating and evaluating drug
information and are effective communicators when dealing with the wider
healthcare team and patients

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Responsibilities/services provided by drug
information centers
Drug information center’s responsibilities include:
• drug information and formulary activities
• pregnancy and lactation drug information
• herbal and homeopathic drug information
• newsletters and health-related material publication
• medical staff development
• investigational drug program activities
• medicine use review
• adverse-drug reaction reporting
• research
• student, pharmacy residents and drug information specialists training
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Skills required for medicine information specialists
Specialists are required to have
• extended clinical knowledge
• formulate appropriate questions
• use a systemic approach to find needed information
• a clear, concise and accurate recommendations regarding drug use
• excellent grasp of medical terminology
• strong computer literacy
• familiarity with electronic medical records
• administrative support to health care professionals
• grasp of medical terminology
• research skills
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Benefit of using drug information
• Critical selection, evaluation and utilization of the drug literature
• Medical and non-medical personnel/academics can get unbiased information on
drugs in an efficient manner
• Pharmacy and therapeutic committees can be served in an improved way
• Contribution to drug literature through appropriate participation in research
activities eg clinical and pre-clinical drug studies, monitoring of clinical drug
experiences

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Factors influencing the evolution of the
pharmacist’s role as a medication information
provider
Several factors influence the evolution of the pharmacist’s role as medication
information provider:
• prevention of adverse drug events (ADEs)
• growth of information technology
• changes in the health care environment with a focus on evidence-based medicine
and the evaluation of outcomes
• the sophistication of medication therapy
• a more knowledgeable patient

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Adverse drug reaction
• Definition of ADEs includes both medication errors and adverse drug reactions
(ADRs)
• Has impact on patient health and well-being, and economic implications
• Adverse effects of newly approved medications do not appear until a medication
is used in a group of patients with multiple medical problems who are taking
several other medications

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Integration of new technologies
• sharing information over the Internet, allows the user to easily access the scientific literature,
government publications, items in the news, and many more
• Information is needed quickly: when a new medication becomes commercially available,
withdrawn from the market for safety reasons, or when data from a new study are released
• Registries of ongoing clinical trials, provide information on the purpose and criteria for
participation in clinical trials
• Drug information centers create web-sites to post information about their center and services,
provide links to related sites considered to be of acceptable quality, and as a convenient means of
receiving and answering drug information questions

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Integration of new technology
• Personal digital assistant (PDA): used for collecting and accessing information
from a unit that can be carried in a user’s pocket
• Examples: computer for online searching, to provide medication profiles, to set
appointments, as a time-management tool, and to search drug information
databases
• PDA can provide access to the formulary, order entry and verification, medication
error and ADR reporting, and medication use guidelines

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Focus on evidence based medicine and drug policy
development
• The pharmacist’s ability to apply medication information skills to drug policy decisions will be of
growing importance in this changing health care environment
• Identifying trends of inappropriate medication use in a group of patients and providing supporting
scientific evidence to help change behavior
• Evidence-based medicine is an approach to practice and teaching that integrates current clinical
research evidence with pathophysiologic rationale, professional expertise, and patient preferences
to make decisions for a population
• Pharmacists need to be able to evaluate the medication use issues for a group of patients;
• Search, retrieve, and critically evaluate the scientific literature; and apply the information to the
targeted group of patients

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Sophistication of medication therapy
• increasingly difficult for physicians and other health professionals to keep up
with all of the development in medication therapy
• pharmacists lend their expertise in assessing medication information needs of
healthcare professionals, patients, or family member
• various pharmaceutical compounds are at different stages of development,
several of which have substantial impact on clinical practice and drug
expenditure
• pharmacists monitor medication in pipeline to provide adequate time to identify
the patient population that will benefit from the new medicine
• trend towards individualization of health care using DNA profiling to determine
potential drug effectiveness

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Self-care movement
• patients have a continually growing desire for information about their
medications
• self-care movement allows for increase in focus on health care costs, and
improved accessibility of health information
• patients participate more fully in health care decisions, including the selection
and use of medications
• Involvement of patient by searching health information in the web
• critically assessing information regarding complementary and alternative
medicines

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Education for the need
• pharmacists education continues to evolve in scope and depth
• areas identified as needed by the medication information specialist are
incorporated into pharmacy curricula
• Several key concepts for developing future pharmacists to be drug
information centered:
1.drug information should be a required component of the pharmacy
curriculum and include both didactic and competency-based experiential
components
2.drug information concepts and skills should be spread throughout the
curriculum, beginning the day students enter pharmacy school
3.problem solving should be a major technique in drug information
education, with the goal of developing self-directed learners
4.developing these skills should provide the foundation for the pharmacist to
be a lifelong learner and problem solver
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Practice opportunities for a drug information
specialist
• role of the medication information specialist changed from an individual who
specifically answers questions to one who focuses on the development of
medication policies and provides information on complex medication information
questions
• pharmacist specialist in medication information can provide leadership in a
contract drug information center, medical informatics, health maintenance
organizations (HMOs) and pharmacy benefit management organizations (PBMs),
managed care organizations, scientific writing and medical communications,
poison control, pharmaceutical industry, and academia

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References
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC225320/?page=2
• http://references.tomhsiung.com/Pharmacy%20Informatics/phco.29.
3.331.pdf

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Any questions?

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