Guidelines on the Pharmacist’s Role in Providing Drug Information

Provision of Drug Information (DI)

-Is among the fundamental professional responsibilities of all pharmacists. Recent practice trends, including increased
provision of medication therapy management services and efforts to obtain provider status, have placed pharmacists in
increasingly complex patient-care roles and necessitated a higher level of competence by all pharmacists in meeting DI needs.

Drug information may be patient specific, academic (for educational purposes), or population based (to aid in the decision-
making process for evaluating medication use for groups of patients)

Drug Information Activities

To be an effective provider of DI, the pharmacist must exercise excellent oral and written communication skills and be able
to:

1. Anticipate and evaluate the DI needs of patients and health care professionals.
2. Obtain appropriate and complete background information as described under the section Systematic Approach for
Responding to Drug Information Requests.
3. Use a systematic approach to address DI needs by effectively searching, retrieving, and critically evaluating the literature
(i.e., assessment of study design, statistics, bias, limitations, applicability)
4. Appropriately synthesize, communicate, document, and apply pertinent information to the patient care situation.1

A variety of DI activities may be performed by pharmacists, depending on the particular practice setting and need. Every
pharmacist should have the skills to perform the following DI:

1. Providing DI to patients, caregivers, and health care professionals.

2. Creating and maintaining currency of a variety of print and online educational resources for patients (e.g., tip sheets,
pamphlets) and health care professionals (e.g., in-service documents, newsletters) on topics such as optimal medication use,
general health, or select clinical questions.
3. Educating health care professionals on safe and effective medication-use policies and processes, including development of
resources to communicate this information.
4. Leading or participating in continuing education services for health care professionals.
5. Educating pharmacy students and residents.
6. Participating in quality improvement research projects and drug cost analyses.
7. Contributing to the biomedical literature and providing peer review for other contributors.

7 Steps to Respond to Drug Information Requests

Whether you’re on a drug information, community, or hospital rotation, these 7 steps will help you provide the best possible
answer to any medication question.

1. Secure request or demographics.

It’s important to know your audience, as your response technique may differ depending on whether the question comes from a
health care professional or a patient. For example, you’d use the word “renal” with a pharmacist and “kidney” with a patient. It’s
always best to inquire how the requestor would like the information delivered (eg, phone or fax), as this will help ensure
adequate follow-up.

2. Obtain background information.

This is historically the most difficult step because you must act as a detective. Determine whether it’s a general or patient-
specific question, and then identify resources the requestor has already consulted to help facilitate the process. For patient-
specific questions, it’s important to inquire about pregnancy, weight, and renal function.
 
3. Determine and categorize the question.
If a pharmacist requests information about whether a patient who’s breastfeeding can take amoxicillin, this would be classified
as a lactation question. Various categories may include pregnancy, drug interaction, pharmacy law, or pill identification.

4. Develop a strategy and conduct a search.

First, begin with tertiary literature, which is a compilation of primary literature. This may include text books like Drugs in
Pregnancy and Lactation or drug information databases like Clinical Pharmacology or Lexicomp. Next, consult your secondary
literature resources, which is the path to primary literature. Secondary resources include PubMed and EMBASE, which will
enable you to locate primary literature or original research. It’s important to use reputable resources when researching. When
using websites, be sure to consult ones ending in .gov or .org.

5. Perform evaluation, analysis, and synthesis.

Objectively critique all of the information you retrieve from your comprehensive literature search. Also, consider the background
information of your question. Consult with pharmacists and other health care professionals with expertise in your specific drug
information question. 
6. Formulate and provide a response.
Inform the requestor when one course of action is more desirable. Present competing viewpoints and considerations. Also,
describe your evaluation of the research. Written responses should always be concise and fully referenced.

7. Conduct follow-up and documentation.

Following up is important for ensuring the information was received. Always document your drug information questions so you
can refer back to them. You’ll likely see the same question in the future, and this well help serve as a reference point.

When I managed a drug information center, I’d always review these 7 steps with students on my rotation. These tips will enable
you to become confident in answering drug information questions and prepare you for your pharmacy career.