Drug information centers: An overview to the concept / Centros de información de medicamentos. Una visión global del concepto

ABSTRACT

Drug Information Centers (DIC) have an important place in the health care process since they provide independent and updated information. A search was developed in Medline, Science Direct, Academic Search Complete, LILACS and Academic Google in order to know the state of the art of DIC around the world. Regarding to a timeline, the first European DIC was created in 1960 and studies that described local situation were identified in 1996 and 2001. Thereafter, in the United States the first DIC was created in 1962 and 3 studies that describe DIC characteristics and changes trough time were identified between 2003 and 2008. Moreover, DICs were created in Singapore in 1980 and in Venezuela in 1981. In India was created a DIC in 1997. Subsequently, the WHO performed workshops in 2006 in order to create new centers in this country. In Asia was conducted a study in 1996 that identified 4 DIC. Concerning Latin America were found studies that describe local DIC from Brazil (2001) and Costa Rica (2003). Also, the network of Latin American and Caribbean DICs (REDCIMLAC) was created in 2011. In all consulted studies the DICs features were described including type of questions, professionals and infrastructure among others. Some of these studies included a comparison with the WHO technical document.

RESUMEN

Los Centros de Información de Medicamentos (CIM) ocupan un lugar importante en el proceso de atención en salud al proporcionar información independiente y actualizada. Con el fin de conocer el estado del arte de los CIMs alrededor del mundo, se desarrolló una búsqueda en las bases de datos Medline, Science Direct, Academic Search Complete, LILACS y en Google Académico. Revisando cronológicamente la creación de CIMs, se encontró que el primero fue fundado en Europa en 1960. Posteriormente, se crearon en Estados Unidos en 1962, Singapur, 1980 y Venezuela, 1981. En India se fundó un CIM en 1997, posteriormente la OMS dictó talleres en ese país para fortalecer la creación de nuevos CIMs en 2006. En Asia se realizó un estudio en 1996 que identificó cuatro CIMs. En cuanto a Latinoamérica, se encontraron estudios de Brasil (2001) y Costa Rica (2003) que describen los CIMs locales. Adicionalmente, en 2011, se creó la red de CIMs de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (REDCIMLAC). En todos los estudios consultados se identificaron características de funcionamiento de los CIMs, como infraestructura, tipo de consultas, personal, entre otras. Algunos de estos estudios incluyeron una comparación con el documento técnico de la OMS.