Responding to drug information requests

Abstract

A pharmacist is busy entering a complicated order into the pharmacy computer system when the phone rings. The caller asks, "What is the dose of Lovenox?" The pharmacist places the caller on hold and logs on to a computerized drug information (DI) resource or opens up a book, locates an answer, and provides a response to the requester. Once the conversation is over, the pharmacist resumes entering medication orders. As simplistic as this scenario may seem, responding to DI requests is an intricate matter that requires proper training. Despite the fact that today's graduates from schools of pharmacy are exposed to a degree of DI instruction, a critique of the appropriate management of DI requests is warranted. Several references have been published on the topic of DI.1,–4 These references, which include chapters on the process of answering DI queries, are used to instruct student pharmacists and are available for any pharmacist who wishes to review the topic. Additionally, in 1996, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists published guidelines on the provision of medication information by pharmacists.5 These guidelines outlined a method for properly responding to a DI request. The aim of this article is to provide pharmacy practitioners with a practical guide on answering DI queries in an institutional setting; however, many of these principles apply to pharmacists practicing in other settings as well. It is important to note that possessing the skills necessary to properly answer DI requests is not the sole domain of pharmacists practicing in DI centers; rather, these skills are essential for all practicing pharmacists regardless of their practice settings.