PHARMACY INFORMATICS
-under medical informatics
-Deals with the application of pharmacy-related data for a variety of purposes.
-According to ASHP "the use and integration of data, information, knowledge,
technology, and automation in the medication-use process for the purpose of
improving health outcomes."
-Deals with the subset of informatics relevant to the practice of pharmacy.
-An important subset of medical informatics in which the pharmaceuticals use their
knowledge.of information systems and medication-use processes to improve patient
care by ensuring that new technologies lead to safer and more effective medication
use (ASHP)
-A scientific field that focuses on medication-related data and knowledge within the
continuum of healthcare systems- including its acquisition, storage, analysis,use and
dissemination in the delivery of optimal medication-related patient care and health
outcomes. (HIMSS October 2006)
-It is the use of electronic health data to support safe and effective medication use.
-It can include various aspects of medication management:
• from a drug utilization review,
• To the use of barcoding technology during product dispensing,
• To the development of alert systems to improve prescribing and dispensing of
medications.
-Pharmacy Informatics involves broad collaboration between pharmacists, pharmacy
technicians, physicians, nurses, information technology personnel, and other health
care professionals.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEALTH SYSTEM PHARMACIST (ASHP)
-National professional organization members include pharmacists, student
pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians who serve as patient care providers on
healthcare teams in acute and ambulatory settings.
APPLICATIONS OF HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE PROCESS OF CARE
1. Hospital addition, billing, and accounting (data about sa biniling gamot, lab test,
doctor mo)
2. Resource management (order thru software ma drugs)
3. Medical documentation (patient records)
4. Diagnostics and therapy
5. Imaging (MRI0)
6. Communication (communication/collaboration )
7. Information management
8. Clinical decision support (before giving a drug)
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• the use of hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage
and deliver information using voice, data, and video.
• The science and activity of using computers and other electronic equipment to
store and send information.
EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• Telephone and radio equipment and switches used for voice communications.
• Traditional computer applications that include data storage and programs to input,
process, and output the data.
• Software and support for office automation systems such as word processing and
spreadsheets, as well as the computer to run them.
• User's PCs and software
• Server hardware and software used to support applications such as electronic
mail/groupware, file and print services, databases, application/web servers, storage
systems, and other hosting services.
• Peripherals directly connected to computer information systems used to collect or
transmit audio, video, or graphic information, such as scanners and digitizers.
• Voice response systems that interact with a computer database or application.
• The state radio communications network.
• Computers and network systems used by teachers, trainers, and students for
educational purposes.
• "Open-integrated" computer systems that monitor or automate mechanical or
chemical processes and also store information used by computer applications for
analysis and decision making, such as a building management system.
OTHER TERMS RELATED TO PHARMACY INFORMATICS
• INFORMATICS
-study and application of information technology to the arts, science, and professions,
and to its use in organizations and society at large 1
-study of the best practices information accrual, handling, dissemination, and
comprehension using appropriate technology.
• HOW DOES INFORMATICS IMPACT HEALTH?
-construct computer health information systems by studying the needs of doctors,
nurses, patients, and healthcare organizations
-create health networks that allow doctors and nurses to share knowledge and best
practices
-create new methods of information delivery that motivate patients to follow
treatment recommendations
• MEDICAL INFORMATICS aka HEALTH INFORMATICS
-is most simply defined as computer applications in medical care
-comprises the theoretical and practical aspects of information processing and
communication based on knowledge and experience derived from processes in
medicine and health care
• HEALTH INFORMATICS
-development and assessment of methods and systems folr the acquisition, processing,
and interpretations of patient data with the help of knowledge from scientific
research
-it covers all aspects of the generation, handling, communication,storage,retrieval,
management,analysis, discovery and synthesis of data, information, and knowledge in
the entire scope of healthcare.
• DATA
-simply discrete and objective facts about subject or an event
-easy to capture and store in media such as databases and files
Example: Patient laboratory values, drug orders, patient's weight
• INFORMATION
-data that has relevance and purpose
-has meaning because it is contextualized, categorized, calculated, corrected, or
condensed
Example: Knowing particular lab result was high or low from the reference value
• KNOWLEGE
-broader, deeper, and richer than data and information
• ALERT
-a patient and context sensitive warning presented to the ordering provider at the
time an order is being entered. Used to inform the provider of a clinical concern
relevant to the patient and order being placed.
• CLINICAL REMINDER
-a context-sensitive electronic prompt to the provider to perform an intervention or
procedure, based on the patient's specific clinical data as applied to a set of logical
conditions
• NOTIFICATION
-it is a patient and context-sensitive prompt to the ordering provider, attending
physician,primary provider, or care team to alert them of new information (i.e.
abnormal lab result) or tasks in need of completion
(i.e. unsigned order or note).
• TELEHEALTH
-it is the "delivery of health care services, where patients and providers are separated
by distance"
-it uses technology for the exchange of information for the diagnosis and treatment of
diseases and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of
health professionals
• TELEMEDICINE
-it refers to the practice of caring for patients remotely when the provider and patient
are not physically present with each other
-it must be compliant based on DPA
Who are Informatics Pharmacist?
• Considered a dual specialist:
-Knowledgeable about both pharmacy practice and informatics
-has the ability to look at both the "big picture" and the individual details and
processes
Characteristics of an Informatics Pharmacist
• Strong understanding of pharmacy practice
• knowledgeable about the medication use process
• Knowledgeable about information systems, healthcare technology and automation
• Basic understanding of database design and function
• Ability to think about the "end user"
Roles of an Informatics Pharmacist
• Ensure patient safety
• Provide guidance and leadership for all technology initiatives that support
medication use
• Customize and tailor health information systems and technology to the needs of
practice
• Serves as liaison between pharmacy and other departments
-information technology
-nurses
-physicians
-vendors
• Provide education to healthcare professionals and managers
• Serve as a resource for hospital staff
• Provide recommendations regarding vendor selection
Areas of Responsibility
1. Information Management
-Informatics Pharmacist must generate and share this information with various
healthcare professionals to ensure patient safety while also measuring the usage and
effectiveness of this information throughout the clinical process
 2. Knowledge delivery • The rise of internet in 1990
-The informatics pharmacist drives the delivery of medication-related information -also brought with it the information explosion
and knowledge throughout the clinical knowledge lifecycle. -the internet protocols allowed support for practically all information and traffic
3. Data Analysis needed for telemedicine
-In order to improve healthcare, data must be reviewed and the insights gained from
this data must be applied Some of the affordable measurements devices that are commonly used with
4. Clinical Informatics telemedicine include:
-it promotes the understanding, integration and application of information technology ▪ Smartphone cameras
in healthcare settings ▪ Digital stethoscopes
-it focuses on an individual patient ▪ Vital sign monitoring devices
Example: Smart Pump Optimization ▪ Wearable biosensers
5. Change Management
-when dealing with knowledge to guide healthcare delivery, the only constant is NEW NORMAL
change ONLINE PHARMACY:
-treatments come and go, diagnostic tools evolve, clinical practice changes • MedExpress Drugstore
• AideApp
What does an Informatics Pharmacist does? • Dima
• Maintain databases of medication management systems • MedGrocer
• Liaison between information technology (IT) and pharmacy • Mercury Drugstore
-Understanding system capabilities and limitations • Rose Pharmacy
• Identify solutions to and resolve system problems
• Work with interdisciplinary teams to implement new technology Drug Information
-Barcode Medication Administration • A PRINTED information in a particular reference or VERBALIZED by an individual
• Leadership that pertains to medications
-involvement in committees and professional organizations Education • In many cases individuals use this term in different contexts by associating it with
other words, which include the following:
Importance of Pharmacy Informatics -Specialist/practitioner/pharmacist/provider
1. In healthcare field -Center/service/practice
• its ability to cater to the needs of the patients from any place at any giventime -Function/skills
• Highly beneficial for occupational medicine
• Telemedicine helps to formulate an efficient and reliable healthcare plan Who are considered Drug Information Providers?
2. In rural area • Pharmacists
• help rural providers deliver better health care by connecting rural providers and • Doctors
their patients to services at distant sites and promoting patient-centered health care • Nurses
3. In urban area • Medical Researchers
• It has made waves in less by bringing providers and experts to patients, which also • Other healthcare professionals
decreases healthcare and travel costs
Misleading Information
Pharmacy Informatics on the Improvement of Health Outcomes • News Media
• Information bout drugs includes primary literature and electronic • Biased/Wrong Information
resources,hospitala and pharmacy information systems, pharmacokinetics, and • Incomplete Research
pharmacogenomics • The Internet
• Patient-related issues include medication safety, electronic health records, decision
support systems, and the practice ofevidence-based mmedicine Purpose of Drug Information
• The skills needed to implement this knowledge in patient-centered care include -to improve the level of patient care by ensuring SAFE and EFFECTIVE use of
effective literature and Web search skills, an understanding of databases, and the medicines
controlled vocabularies needed for interoperability between systems and for optimal
searching of some databases What are some relevant terms to Drug Information?
• Thus, pharmacist need to know how tobaccess computerized medical information INFORMATION
in various databases and to understand the underpinnings of these databases to use -it is the DATA obtained from investigation, study or instruction
them most effectively -is to describe it as one or more statements or facts that are received by a human and
• Information and technology smiles should help the pharmacist clearly see the that have some form of worth to the recipient
complex picture of medication management for each individual patient and make the -"knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance"
best possible decisions for his or her care MEDICATION INFORMATION
-used to convey the MANAGEMENT and the USE of information on MEDICATION
History of Pharmacy Informatics THERAPY and to signify the broader role that all pharmacists take in information
TELEMEDICINE provision
• ANCIENT TIMES POPULATION
-uses fire, smoke signals, drums, horns -frequently used to refer to an aggregation or group of individuals defined by a set of
• EARLY TELEMEDICINE common characteristics
-It was kicked off by the inventions of the electrical telegraph and the telephone DRUG INFORMATICS
-The telegraph and telephone brought long distance communication into the -used to describe the evolving roles of the medication information specialist
mainstream, where almost anyone could send a telegraph message or make a phone
call History of Drug Informatics
-Major city hospitals and doctor offices installed telephones. Within a few years, many • Developed in the early 1960s when it was used in conjunction with the words
city residents also had telephones in their homes center and specialist.
• Late 1800's • In 1962, the first drug information center was opened at the University of Kentucky
-Capital Aveue Drugstore was connected to 21 different local physicians via the early Medical Center
version of telephone
• April 1924 Drug Information Center
-first idea of telemedicine was introduced • To be "a source of selected, comprehensive drug information for staff physicians
-depicting the use of television and microphone for a patient to communicate with a and dentists to evaluate and compare drugs" as wells as to provide the drug
doctor, including use of heartbeat and temperature indicators information needs of nurses
• 1925 • To take an active role in the education of health professional students including
-the concept of "Teledactyl" was introduced by Hugo Gemsback medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy
• Late 1950s and early 1960s Approaches in Providing Drug Information Services:
-the first uses of telemedicine is to transmit video, images, and complex medical data • Decentralizing pharmacists in the hospital
• 1959 • Offering a clinical consultation service
-used interactive telemedicine to transmit neurological examinations, which is widely • Providing services for a geographic area through a regional center
considered the first case of real-time video telemedicine consultation
Drug Information DISADVANTAGES
• It should be stored in the center and retrieved, selected, evaluated, and • Misleading conclusions based on only one trial without the context of other
disseminated by the specialist researchers
• Drug Information Specialist • There is a need to have good skills in medical literature evaluation
-The individual responsible for operation of the center • Longer time needed to evaluate the large volume of literature available

Some Medication Information Services WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES?

• Support for clinical services • refers to references that either index or abstract the primary literature with the
• Answering questions goal of directing the user to primary literature
• Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee activity • indexing
• Publications -consist of providing bibliographic citation information
• Education - in services for health professionals, students, consumers Example: title, author, and citation of the article
• Medication usage evaluation/medication use evaluation • Abstracting
• Investigational medication control -includes a brief description (or abstract) of the information provided by the article or
-Institutional Review Board activities - approve, monitor, and review biomedical and resource cited
behavioral research involving humans • Frequently used to access the primary literature and usually consist of
-Information for practitioners bibliographic citations
• Coordination of reporting programs • Most sources identify citation through a computer or "online" searching process,
example: Adverse drug reactions some excess in print form
• Poison information • Can be used for multiple purposes; one can be to help keep a practitioner of
• Overseeing clinical trials recently published information
• Find more recent or detailed information on specified treatment or disease
PHASES INVOLVED IN A CLINICAL TRIAL • Frequently used to access the primary literature and usually consists of
(SEARCH) bibliographic citations
• Available as abstracting services, citations, indexes with or without full text, and
What are the Drug Information Resources used in Pharmacy? directories
• Generally, the best method to find information includes a stepwise approach • Less current than the primary literature
moving first through: ADVANTAGES
Tertiary---->secondary---->primary • Saves time
• Cheaper than journal
Tertiary Sources • Online easy to search
• Provide the practitioner with general information needed to familiarize the reader • Updates information can be sent to you periodically
with the topic DISADVANTAGES
• Provide the rapid access to information • Time lag
• General source • The time lag for most secondary sources is now 4-8 weeks after primary source
• Excellent first-line resources publication
• Rapid access to information
Examples
-Textbooks
-Drug Compendia
-Review Articles in journals
-Full text computer/handheld databases
-Internet

Secondary Sources
-if the information from the tertiary sources is not recent or comprehensive enough, it
may be employed to direct the reader to review primary literature articles that might
provide more insight on the topic
Example:
-Computerized Indexing Systems
-Abstracting Publications

Primary Sources
• often provides most recent and in-depth information about a topic, and allows the
reader to analyze and critique the study methodology to determine if the conclusions
are valid
EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY DATABASES AND TYPES OF REQUEST
• Most specific
A. ANTI-INFECTIVES TODAY
• Most current
• Adis International, <<www.adis.com>>
Examples:
• This monthly service indexes important new research, adverse reactions, and
-Original Research
pharmacogenomic data in the area of therapies for infectious disease
-Case Studies
• Paper as well as electronic formats are available
-Manufacturer's Monograph
Other Sources:
B. BIOLOGIC ABSTRACTING/BIOSIS PREVIEWS
-Manufacturers
• Thompson Medical, <<www.biosis.org>>
-Expert in the field
• This is a comprehensive database of biologic information, covering biological and
-Internet websites
biomedical information
• BIOSIS also covers abstracts from conferences relating to basic sciences
What are PRIMARY SOUCES?
• This is the most helpful when seeking basic science information
• original published or unpublished works that introduce new knowledge or
• Both print and electronic formats are available and are updated semimonthly
enhance existing knowledge on a subject
• include research results and case reports as well as evaluative and descriptive
C. CANCER TODAY
studies
• Adis International, <<www.adis.com>>
• foundation for the secondary and tertiary literature
• This is monthly indexing and abstracting service summarizing current literature in
• provide most accurate information because they contain the origins
the area of cancer management
communication of ideas
• Information from recent trials, case reports, and international meetings is provided
ADVANTAGES:
• Available in print and also electronically
• access to detailed information about a topic and the ability to personally assess the
utility and validity of study results
• More recent than tertiary or secondary literature
• Peer-reviewed
D. CANCERLIT N. LEXISNEXIS
• National Cancer Institute, <<www.cancer.gov>> • LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions, <<www.lexisnexis.com>>
• This database is maintained by the National Cancer Institute and Indexes from a • This is indexing service covers a variety of information including medical, legal,
variety of sources specific to cancer literature and business news. Some publications are available full text through this service.
• This resource isbmost useful when looking for information about oncology
therapies or quality of life issues
• This resource is updated monthly and is available electronically at
<<http://www.cancer.gov/search_literature/>>

E. CINAHL
• CINAHL Information Systems, <<www.cinahil.com>>
• This is an indexing service that covers literature primarily in the fields of nursing
and allied health
• This database is useful when seeking information about patient care from the
perspective of allied health professionals
• It is updated monthly

F. THE COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMIC REVIEWS

• Cochrane Library,<<www.cochrane.org>>
• This database, published quarterly, indexes Cochrane reviews about a variety of
medical treatments, conditions, and alternative therapies
• These evidence based medicine reviews are based on extensive analysis of current
literature and provide treatment recommendations

G. CURRENT CONTENTS
• Thompson Medical,<<www.isinet.com>>
• This electronic service offers an overview of very recently published literature as it
relates to scientific informatiothe clinical medicine and life sciences subgroups are
usefulbfor information about recent drug research and developments

H. EMBASE
• Elsevier, <<www.embase.com>>
• EMBASE is comprehensive abstracting service covering biomedical literature
worldwide
• This database covers material similar to that covered by MEDLINE®, but greater
coverage of international publications
• Additionally, there is less lag time between publication and inclusion in the
database
• This database is useful when seeking information about dietary supplements or
medications that may be available in other countries

I. GOOGLE SCHOLAR
• Google,<<scholar.google.com>>
• An internet search engine that is designed to target scholarly materials available
online in a variety of professional areas including health care
• Information from a variety of scholarly journals and publications is able to be
searched, however, in some cases, the researcher may not be able to access full-text
versions of articles or works due to password restrictions

K. INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL ABSTRACTS

• American Society of Health System Pharmacists, <<www.ashp.org>>
• Coverage includes drug related information,including drug use and development
• This database also abstracts a variety of meeting presentations
• The main focus of this database is pharmacy information, including pharmacy
administration and clinical services, making it the most comprehensive database for
pharmacy-specific information

L. IOWA DRUG INFORMATION SERVICE

• Division of Drug Information Service, University of Iowa,
<<http://itsnt14.its.uiowa.edu/>>
• This is an Indexing service that allows retrieval of complete articles from a variety
of biomedical publications
• Indexing is done by database specific term, which at times makes searching
challenging
• This database is useful for information about standard medications
• It is unique in that it provides full articles, in either PDF form, or for older articles,
microfiche. There are limited number of journals covered and not all information
from a specific journal issue is covered

M. JOURNAL WATCH
• Massachusetts medical Society, <<www.jwatch.org>>
• Journal watch is an abstracting service including recent Information, summarized
by physicians, from a variety of medical literature
• A general newsletter covering major medical stories of interest to generalist is
published along with additional newsletters in specific specialty areas
• This is the most helpful when monitoring for new clinical trials involving specific
medications