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Rx: Finding Drug Information

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Pharmacist Toolkit

Drug Information Resources: Classifying Sources

Case Example

Pulling a container out of her purse at the end of her visit for routine diabetes care, your 17-year old patient asks, “Is it OK to be taking this?”

Upon examining the bottle, you see that the preparation is herbal with the main ingredient listed as Ma Huang. Upon further questioning, she reveals that she's been taking this to help her with weight loss. She mentions that she's had higher blood sugars than usual and that her insulin requirements have increased since she began.

Is there a relationship between Ma Huang and hyperglycemia? You suggest that she discontinue the pills until you can check on their safety.

You consider the following possibilities to find the information you need to answer her question:

Pick up the phone and talk to one of your colleagues
What if the line is busy? Or how current and accurate is your colleague's information? Would a librarian point you in the right direction?

Flip through the last few issues of journals you've received—you're sure you saw something recently on this
This is time-consuming and limited. Maybe the article you saw was written a year or two ago and you no longer have the article. There are more effective ways of finding current journal articles or primary sources of information.

Grab the nearest reference book on your shelf or do a quick lookup search in a database
Finding the information in one place in one quick look-up is the most time efficient method. However, be sure to check the date of the book and the credentials of the author and source. You may still need to turn to other sources. Books and full-text databases are also called tertiary sources.

Run a quick PubMed or Web search to locate some key references
Using bibliographic databases or search engines (also known as secondary sources) is an effective means of locating current information on topics. It takes longer than finding information in a tertiary source however.

What is a reasonable path to follow in finding information about medications?