drug information centers in Saudi Arabia: Activities of college-based drug and poison information center

ABSTRACT

To report the activities of a college of pharmacy based drug and poison information center [DPIC] at King Saud University and to determine the attitude of newly graduate towards the DPIC courses. Method: A total of 354 drug information requests were retrospective reviewed. Also a self-administered questionnaire containing 12 attitudinal was develop and handled to 43 new graduates enrolled in the two courses. The majority of inquires came from the pharmacists, King Saud University staff and community, respectively, while physicians and nurses inquires were the minimal. Request for information on drug therapy, drug identification and adverse effects account for majority of requests asked by the pharmacists. On the other hand drug therapies and adverse effects were the most categories requested by the community, whereas, poisoning was the common category asked by the physicians. There is an increase dependence on computerized tertiary references when responding to inquires and a decrease in the use of textbooks. With regard to the survey the response rate was 79%. All respondents agreed that the courses are useful and their skills in searching various recourses were increased since they finished the courses. Pharmacists were the largest group of professional to request information. For optimal performance in the DPIC quality assurance program is required. Future research should be continued to document the attitudes of all pharmacists enrolled in the courses. Also making the DPIC known fur all professionals will encourage physicians, dentists and nurses to utilize the facilities of the center