Electronic supplementary documentation
Title of manuscript: Factors associated with time consumption when answering drug-related queries to Scandinavian drug information centres: A multi-centre study,
Journal: European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
Authors: Linda Amundstuen Reppe (Faculty of Health Sciences, Nord-Trøndelag University College, Steinkjer, Norway and Department of laboratory medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway and Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centre (RELIS Midt-Norge), Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. Contact: E-mail: , Phone: + 47 74 82 37 52), Olav Spigset, YlvaBöttiger, Hanne Rolighed Christensen, Jens Peter Kampmann, Per Damkier, StianLydersen and Jan Schjøtt.
Supplementary Table 1: Variables included in the study of factors affecting time consumption when responding to queries posed to eight Scandinavian
Drug information centres (DICs). All data were collected electronically.
Variables concerning the query
Number of drugs involved / Numbers ≥1 (continuous variable)
Number of sources searched / Numbers ≥0 (continuous variable)
Type of literature search / None
Simple – search in monographs, databases, summary of product characteristics (SPC) etc.
Advanced – search in databases such as Medline to identify original research articles
Category of the query / Toxicology
Choice of therapy/drug treatment
Adverse effects
Mechanism of action/pharmacokinetics
Pregnancy
Drug interactions
Alternative medicine/natural products
Lactation
Other
Variables concerning staff members
Experience at the DIC / >2 years
0-1year
1-2 years
Gender / Female
Male
Profession / Pharmacist
Physician
Academic qualifications / No PhD
PhD
Staff members judgments of the work process for the specific query
Time consumptionin minutes for each of the five following:
Searching for literature
Reading and critically evaluating the literature
Formulating a verbal and/or written response
Assuring response quality
Other (administrative tasks, communication with the enquirer, etc.) / Numbers ≥0 (continuous variable)
Advice provided to the enquirer / No
General advice
Specific advice
For each of the four following:
Lack of documentation
Conflicting documentation
Particularly complex patient case
Heavy workload at the time / Not at all
To a very small or small extent
To some extent
To a large or very large extent
Agreed response time / Within one day (same day)
The next day
2-4 days
5-14 days
> 14 days
Supplementary Table 2: Number of queries in different categories handled at eight Scandinavian drug information centres during
the study period of eight weeks, and time consumed answering them.
(minutes) / Median time
(range in minutes)
Toxicology / 15 (2) / 408 / 235 (10-1770)
Choice of therapy/drug treatment / 225 (31) / 211 / 150 (11-1770)
Adverse effects / 266 (37) / 209 / 160 (4–2540)
Mechanism of action/pharmacokinetics / 69 (10) / 189 / 149 (4-1471)
Pregnancy / 68 (9) / 187 / 138 (5-1100)
Drug interactions / 137 (19) / 173 / 123 (27-625)
Alternative medicine/natural products / 30 (4) / 146 / 113 (25-506)
Lactation / 48 (7) / 131 / 85 (12-690)
Othera / 105 (15) / 131 / 70 (5-1770)
aThis category includes, among others; pharmaceutical queries and queries concerning drug identification.
bThe percentages are based on n=718. The sum of queries, however, exceeds 718and the percentages exceed 100,
as one query could concern more than one category.
Supplementary Table 3: Number of queries (n = 718) answered by various categories of staff members at eight
Scandinavian drug information centres during the study period of eight weeks.
Staff member’s DIC experience
Zero to one year / 240 (33)
One to two years / 94 (13)
More than two years / 340 (47)
Unknown / 44 (6)
Staff member’s gender
Woman / 451 (63)
Man / 224 (31)
Unknown / 43 (6)
Staff member’s profession
Pharmacist / 355 (49)
Physician / 305 (43)
Unknown / 58 (8)
Staff member: PhD or not
Not PhD / 524 (73)
PhD / 150 (21)
Unknown / 44 (6)
aThe sum of percentages is not always 100 % due to rounding off.