Internet Drug Information for Pharmacists

Table of Contents

Contents	Internet Drug Information for Pharmacists: the Basics	Limitations of Internet Drug Information
Navigating to Useful Sitesxxxxxxxxxxxxx	Assessing Content of Medical Information on the WWW	Searchable Drug Information Databases
General Pharmacy Sites	Health-Care Professional Orientated Drug Information Sites	Consumer-Orientated Drug Information Sites
Directories and Search Engines	Health News	On-line Journals

Free Pharmacy CE on the Internet:

Inet Continuing Education (by Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy supported by Pfizer)
PowerPak

Table of Contents: Back to top

Internet Drug Information for Pharmacists: The Basics and Limitations
Basics of Server Technology
Navigating to Useful Sites
Assessing Content of Medical Information on the WWW
Summary of latest medical news: Reuters Medical News, CNN Health News, Your Health Daily, Yahoo! Medical News
General Pharmacy Information Sites
Consumer-Oriented Health-Related Internet Sites
Health Care Provider - General Medical and Pharmacy Information Sites
Search Engines and Directories
Author Information and References

Internet Drug Information for Pharmacists: The Basics Back to top

The Internet can be an excellent source of drug information for patients and health care professionals. This document focuses on the the Internet service available via the World Wide Web (WWW). To view background information on the Internet and the WWW, visit: The Basics of Server Technology.

It is helpful for pharmacists to become familiar with the types of on-line drug information available, how to navigate to those sources, recognize the limitations of available sources, and evaluate if the accessed information is reliable. Knowing what information consumers are accessing on the Internet, and knowing the scope of information available to enhance knowledge of current and changing practices in pharmacy can aid the pharmacist in delivering pharmaceutical care.

Limitations: Back to top

In general, Internet resources are used in addition to standard references due to current limitations.

Navigating to useful and relevant information can require some patience due to difficulties in organizing and retrieving vast amounts of information.
Consumers may be misguided by sites proclaiming remarkable scientific results with therapies lacking any supportive data. (Visit QuackWatch for detailed information.)
In many cases the information found on-line is not subject to rigorous peer-review. The quality of the information on a web page might be determined exclusively by the individuals or company who post it. The statements displayed could be based on solid evidence, opinion, or whimsy of the author. The reader may not even know who the author is. This leaves the reader with the responsibility to verify reliability. While this might be a simpler task for pharmacists, it is often puzzling for the average consumer especially if the consumer desperately wants the information to be true.

To view background information on the Internet and the World Wide Web, visit: The basics of server technology.

Navigating to Useful Sites on the WWW Back to top

Imagine walking into the world's largest library and all of the pages from all of the books are in one huge pile on the floor. How could you find the information you came to find? This is similar to what you could experience when looking for information on the Internet. Instead of papers on the floor, the documents are scattered in computers all over the world.² The tools that help you find what you came looking for are search engines. Search engines are software tools that help the user look for documents using a specific subject or key word.

Directories are are lists of WWW sites that are filtered by the editor or reviewer. Directories are more likely to point to relevant WWW sites than an index. However, directories categorize only a small amount of countless documents available on the WWW. Directories usually only become aware of new sites when notified by the author. They are ideal for becoming familiar with a new topic.

Indexes are extremely large databases of Web pages that are gathered by search engines. When you query a search engine, you are really querying the database, not the Internet. Each search engine is set up slightly different, therefore, they do not necessarily return the same results. It is best to experiment and determine which search engine best meets your needs.

Visit: Taming the Web: A Practical Guide to Internet Medical Resources for a quick summary on searching the Internet for medical information.

Below are a listing of selected Directories and Search Engines. You will also find a listing of selected sites for general Pharmacy/ Medical information for both Consumers and Health-Care Professionals to help you get started.

Assessing Content of Medical Information Back to top

As with any type of drug information search, the information you retrieve is only as good as the data in the system and the quality of the search used to find and retrieve that data.⁵

The following core standards can be used as a framework to assess content credibility of information on the WWW:³

Authorship: authors and contributors, their affiliations, and credentials
Attribution: references and sources for content
Disclosure: Web site "ownership", any financial arrangements or sponsorships
Currency: dates information posted and updated

For information about medical quackery on the Internet, visit QuackWatch.

Citation Format Back to top

Citations for WWW pages generally include the author's name, title of the work, medium, posting date, and full Internet address. For example, a citation for this web page would be:

Hancock DL. Internet Drug Information for Pharmacists: The Basics and Limitations, September 1997 (http://members.aol.com/hancockdl/pharmacy.htm).

Consumer-Focused Health Internet Sites Back to top

Medical / Pharmacy Information Back to top

BioMedNet (requires registration, but free)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Doctor's Guide to the Internet
Evidence Based Medicine
Food & Drug Administration
Pharmulary
Helix (requires registration, but free)
JAMA
Martindale's Health Science Guide
Martindale's "Virtual" Pharmacy Center
MedConnect
Medscape (requires registration, but free)
Medsite
National Library of Medicine - FREE MEDLINE access!
On-line Journals
QuackWatch
The Merck Manual
WebDoctor

Educational/ Tutorials

Specialty Areas

ACLS Algorithms
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
American Heart Association
Clinical Care Options for HIV
HIV/AIDS Information Center (JAMA)
Infectious Disease WebLink
Medicine Online (Oncology information)
MentalWellness
OncoLink (Oncology Information)
Resistance Web

General Pharmacy / Misc. Links Back to top

Searchable Drug Databases Back to top

Drug InfoNet
The Merck Manual
PharmInfoNet
RXList
Gold Standard Multimedia Clinical Pharmacology (information on subscribing)

Directories up arrow Back to top

options
Search for:

Directories: More Advanced

Search Engines Back to top

Health AtoZ

Excite Search

Search Tips
Options
Search Lycos for:
Example: hotels in San Francisco options

Search Engines: More Advanced

up arrow Back to top

Author: Dorothy (Sara) Hancock, RPH (link to CV)

Disclosure: This web page is not sponsored, underwritten, or supported by any organization. There is no commercial funding arrangements or support. There is no financial arrangement of the author to any of the links listed. It is a personal web page of the above author posted solely for sharing information with fellow web browsing pharmacists.

Last Modified 5/10/98

References Back to top

Glowniak JV. Medical resources on the Internet. An Intern Med 1995; 123:123-131.
Peters R, Sikorski R. Navigating to knowledge. JAMA 1997; 277:505-6. (http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/archive/jama/vol_277/no_6/jn7001x.htm).
Silberg WM, Lundberg GD, Musacchio RA. Assessing, controlling and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet: caveant lector et viewor - let the reader and viewer beware. JAMA 1997; 277: 1244-5. (http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/archive/jama/vol_277/no_15/ed7016x.htm).
Davis LE, Arndt TS. On-line sources of drug information in oncology. Highlights In Oncology Practice 1997; 15(2)26-41.
Gordon BM. The search for tornadoes, corsets, and queens (or how to find just about anything on the Net). Nutrition in Clinical Practice 1997; 12:190-191.
Breeck K, Lampitt W. First Steps: A Basic Introduction to the Internet for Physicians. Web Doctor Journal 1997 (http://www.gretmar.com/journal/techbrief.html).
Breeck K, Lampitt W. Taming the Web: A Practical Guide to Internet Medical Resources. Web Doctor Journal 1997 (http://www.gretmar.com/journal/april_1997/tech_brief.html).
Breeck K, Lampitt W. Working with the Internet-literate patient. Web Doctor Journal 1997; 2(3) (http://www.gretmar.com/journal/june_1997/tech_brief.html).