Resources with Free Access
For NHS Medicines Information Services
October 2016
This is a list of resources that are freely accessible and considered useful to NHS MI services. It includes free paper resources (e.g. BNF, drug tariff) and freely accessible websites via the Internet or via National library arrangements. This list is not intended to be exhaustive. It is organised under general subject headings and should be used in conjunction with ‘Resources for Purchase by NHS Medicines Information Services’. Other UKMi resources give guidance on what resources to use when, e.g. Enquiry Answering Guidelines. There is also guidance on the risks associated with the use of various resources, see Limitations of Common Information Sources.
UKMi are in the process of assuring the quality of the listed resources, all those listed are produced by reputable/well known organisations. URLs are available via MiDatabank and are correct at the time of publication but are liable to change. Where registration is required this is indicated. This document may also be used to store details of your departmental usernames and passwords if you haven’t entered them in MiDatabank. This can then be kept in an accessible place for all staff working in MI.
See also Internet and Medicines for guidance on how to assess the quality of a website.
Some electronic resources may not work properly on older versions of Internet Explorer. If this affects you, try accessing the resource using an alternative browser, such as Google Chrome or Firefox.
UKMi are aware that various ‘Apps’ are available for health information resources. UKMi do not intend to formally review the content or endorse the use of such Apps at this time. However, if an ‘App’ is available as another platform for an already endorsed UKMi resource, this may be highlighted as being available.
Updating the List
The Essential Resources list will be updated with new editions etc. on a quarterly basis and published on the UKMi and SPS websites. Updates to the list will be reflected in the MiDatabank resource master list.
Suggestions for amendments to this document can be forwarded to or via your Regional Centre. Any suggestions to amend central resources on MiDatabank should, in the first instance, be highlighted to a member of the Clinical Governance Working Group.
Changes since June 2016 /Title / Authors/ Publisher / URL and general notes /
Transformer website
(Cytochrome P450 database) / Institute for Physiology; Structural Bioinformatics Group, Berlin / Change: updated title, database and url
http://bioinformatics.charite.de/transformer/
Update and enhancement to previous SuperCYP database
Specialist Pharmacy Service / SPS
(NHS England) / Change: new resource
www.sps.nhs.uk
Some areas are not public facing and require registration to access.
UKMi Database information and key documents / UKMi / Change: information hosted on new website
All UKMi database information is now accessed through
www.sps.nhs.uk
(Fridge, Lactation, New Drugs Online, Patents, Prescribing Outlook)
UKMi
Medicine
Q & As / UKMi / Change: information hosted on new website
www.sps.nhs.uk
New Product Evaluations—a resource for medicines management / UKMi
North West Regional MIC / Change: new recommendation
www.sps.nhs.uk
Document is updated monthly. Pulls together available medicines evaluations produced by reputable groups.
OTC Directory / Proprietary Association of Great Britain / Change: information hosted on new website
www.pagb.co.uk
Advised this will be available from end of October
Free hard copies can also be ordered on-line
Drug Analysis Prints (DAPs) for Yellow Card data / MHRA / Change: new interactive format available
Interactive Drug Analysis Prints accessible via:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idap
Embase England / NICE / Change: hosted on new platform
http://www.library.nhs.uk/hdas
Medline England / NICE / Change: hosted on new platform
http://www.library.nhs.uk/hdas
Resources with Free Access For NHS MI Services /
Title / Authors/ Publisher / URL and general notes /
General
British National Formulary / BMA and RPS (twice yearly) / One paper copy considered essential for each MI centre (only the September edition is published for free; March edition only available for purchase).
Online access preferred as updated monthly
www.medicinescomplete.com/mc/bnf/current/
Note: BNF Legacy website remains available through medicinescomplete.com
DoH—Department of Health / DoH / https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health
Drug Safety Update / MHRA / https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update
Individual articles are searchable using the search box. An archive of the monthly PDF versions are also available.
Drug Tariff / The Stationery Office (monthly) / Only available online www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/edt_intro.htm
electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) / DataPharm Communications / http://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/
For access to SPCs and PILs
EMBASE / England: http://www.library.nhs.uk/hdas
(Athens password required)
Note: NICE YouTiube Help Video list available providing a guide to using the new database: https://hdas.nice.org.uk/help/#materials
Wales: http://howis.wales.nhs.uk
Scotland: www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home.aspx
Google search engine / Google / www.google.co.uk for general seach engine but also use Google scholar for more academic focus http://scholar.google.co.uk/
Medicines Q & As / UKMi / www.sps.nhs.uk
Q & As can also be accessed via the NICE evidence search www.evidence.nhs.uk
(filter by Type of information ‘Evidence Summaries’ and Source ‘SPS')
Medline / England: http://www.library.nhs.uk/hdas
(Athens password required)
Note: NICE YouTiube Help Video list available providing a guide to using the new database: https://hdas.nice.org.uk/help/#materials
Wales: http://howis.wales.nhs.uk
Scotland: www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home.aspx
Since changing providers (from OVID to PROQUEST), searches were not working as anticipated. It is unsure how the HDAS platform change is affecting searching in Medline. Note that Medline can also be searched using OVID (if available within your Trust) or by using PubMed. PubMed Users Guides are available—See PubMed entry.
General
MHRA—Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency / MHRA / www.mhra.gov.uk
Note. SPCs and PILs can be directly accessed via:
http://www.mhra.gov.uk/spc-pil/index.htm
MIMS
Monthly Index of Medical Specialities / Haymarket Medical Pubs. / http://www.mims.co.uk/.
Username and password required.
NB. Access free to MICs (contact Regional Centre for details)
Netdoctor / Collaboration of UK and European healthcare professionals / www.netdoctor.co.uk www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/
For information about drugs, search the “Medicines” section rather than the whole site.
PubMed / US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health / http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Pubmed user guides are available for basic and MeSH searching.
OTC Directory / Proprietary Association of Great Britain / www.pagb.co.uk
Free hard copies can also be ordered on-line
Specialist Pharmacy Service / SPS
(NHS England) / www.sps.nhs.uk
Some areas are not public facing and require registration to access.
UKMi / UKMi / www.ukmi.nhs.uk
UKMi Discussion Group / Ecompass (host) / http://list.ecompass.nl/listserv/cgi-bin/wa?A0=MI-UK
Adverse effects
CHM—Commission on Human Medicines / CHM/MHRA / www.mhra.gov.uk/Committees/Medicinesadvisorybodies/CommissiononHumanMedicines/index.htm.
Drug Analysis Prints (DAPs) for Yellow Card data / MHRA / Interactive Drug Analysis Prints accessible via:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idap
Note, old format still accessible from:
http://www.mhra.gov.uk/drug-analysis-prints/drug-analysis-prints-a-z/index.htm
INCHEM / International Programme on Chemical Safety / www.inchem.org/.
Toxicology information on chemicals and drugs.
TOXNET / US National Library Medicine / http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/. Toxicology information including pregnancy related toxicity information. Also links to LactMed (see below) for drugs in lactation information.
Adverse Effects
G6PD website / Associazione Italiana Favismo / http://www.g6pd.org/.
Associazione Italiana Favismo is affiliated with UNIAMO, Italian Federation for Rare Diseases, which is member of EURORDIS, European Organization for Rare Diseases.
This site should not be used in isolation for g6pd queries; no single resource is comprehensive. This site contains lists of safe and unsafe drugs and also attempts to quantify risk (low vs. high).
Availability
IDIS World Medicines / IDIS World Medicines / www.idispharma.com
Durbin PLC / Durbin PLC / www.durbin.co.uk
Pro-file Database / Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust / Sourcing unlicensed ‘special’ medicines. www.pro-file.nhs.uk. Registration required.
Complementary Medicine
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre / Integrative Medicine Service / http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/about-herbs-botanicals-other-products
Information for patients is also available
Safety of Herbal Medicines / MHRA / www.mhra.gov.uk/Safetyinformation/Safetywarningsalertsandrecalls/Safetywarningsandmessagesformedicines/Safetywarningsandmessagesforherbalmedicines/index.htm
Q&A 11.7: Considerations when addressing questions about potential for adverse effects and drug interactions with homeopathic remedies / UKMi Complementary Medicines Specialist Service / http://www.medicinesresources.nhs.uk/GetDocument.aspx?pageId=781734
In the absence of good quality and unbiased resources within this field, this document contains the key information regarding the principles and considerations of homeopathic practice.
Contraception and Hormone Replacement Therapy
IPPF Directory of Hormonal Contraceptives / International Planned Parenthood Federation / http://contraceptive.ippf.org
Registration required. Can be used to identify foreign contraceptive pills.
Family Planning Association / Family Planning Association / www.fpa.org.uk
Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare / Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists / www.ffprhc.org.uk/.
Useful guidelines including choice of a contraceptive agent at different ages, in breast feeding, inflammatory bowel disease, interactions, missed pills and using pills outside their product licence, EHC and product reviews.
Diagnostic tests
Labtests online / Collaboration of professional societies and supported by the Department of Health. / www.labtestsonline.org.uk/.
Patient orientated.
Drug abuse
Drug Misuse and Dependence—Guidelines on Clinical Management (The Orange Guide) / National Treatment Agency / www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/clinical_guidelines_2007.pdf
DrugWise / DrugWise / http://www.drugwise.org.uk/
National Institute on Drug Abuse / The National Institute on Drug Abuse (US) / www.nida.nih.gov
Talk to Frank / DoH / Home Office / www.talktoFrank.com
Drug administration
Intravenous Drug Administration Guides / UKMi recommends all centres have access to good quality IV administration guidance.
IMG—Injectable Medicines Guide (Medusa) / Health of Wales Information Service / http://medusa.wales.nhs.uk or www.injguide.nhs.uk.
NB. Available free to contributing Trusts and all Trusts in Wales & N Ireland. Note also contains information on paediatric intravenous drug administration, intramuscular administration, and ocular injections.
Stabilis / Compiled by hospital pharmacists in France / http://www.stabilis.org/
Compatibility and stability data to supplement other resources.
Drug interactions
HIV Drug Interactions / The University of Liverpool / www.hiv-druginteractions.org
Hepatitis drug interactions / The University of Liverpool / www.hep-druginteractions.org
CredibleMeds
(QT prolongation) / US education organisation AZCERT
(renamed CredibleMeds in 2014) / https://www.crediblemeds.org/
List drugs that prolong the QT Interval and/or induce Torsades de Pointes by risk category. Registration required.
Medscape drug interaction checker / Medscape / www.medscape.com/druginfo/druginterchecker
Registration required.
Drugs.com interactions checker / Cerner Multum / http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html
To be used only after other approved sources have been used. Useful for information not readily available in UK sources.
Transformer website
(Cytochrome P450 database) / Institute for Physiology; Structural Bioinformatics Group, Berlin / http://bioinformatics.charite.de/transformer/
Not to be used as a first-line resource.
Clinical significance of the interactions is not identified.
Evidence Based Medicine
Evidence Search—Health and Social care / NICE / www.evidence.nhs.uk.
General search engine for evidence based reviews relevant to the NHS.
Bandolier / Pain Research Group
Oxford / www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier
N.B. It doesn’t look as if this site has been updated for some time. Still useful for explanations of terms e.g. NNT etc but do not use for evidence.
The Cochrane Library / The Cochrane Foundation
John Wiley & Sons / http://www.cochranelibrary.com/
Medicines and Prescribing Centre / NICE / http://www.nice.org.uk/mpc/index.jsp
New site following integration of the former National Prescribing Centre into NICE.
NICE -National Institute for Health and Care Excellence / NICE / www.nice.org.uk
CKS
Clinical Knowledge Summaries / NICE / http://cks.nice.org.uk/
SIGN—Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network / SIGN / www.sign.ac.uk
WeMeRec Bulletins / Welsh Medicines Resource Centre / www.wemerec.org
HTA assessments / National Coordinating Centre for HTA / www.hta.ac.uk/ Many of these evaluations inform NICE guidance.
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination / University of York / www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/
Infections
The Green Book Immunisation Against Infectious Disease / DoH / https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england/series/immunisation-against-infectious-disease-the-green-book
NHS Immunisation Information / Public Health England / https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england/series/immunisation
Public Health England / Gov.uk / https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england
Replaces the Health Protection Agency site
Lactation
At least two resources should be used for all lactation enquiries.
See also Resources for purchase list.
LactMed / US National Library of Medicine / http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT.
UKMi Drugs in Lactation database / UKMi
Trent and West Midlands Regional Centres / www.sps.nhs.uk
Also check information held in Therapeutic Group Summary link.
Legal and ethical
Medicines, Ethics and Practice: A guide for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians / RPS / www.rpharms.com/law-and-ethics/medicines-ethics-and-practice-guide.asp
Only free to RPS members.
Liver impairment
LiverTox / Specialist branches of NIDDK and NLM / http://livertox.nlm.nih.gov/index.html
This resource is a joint venture between the Liver Disease Research Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the Division of Specialized Information Services of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health
New products
NDO
New Drugs Online / UKMi / www.sps.nhs.uk
Some information only accessible via registering with the website.
Also contains links to Evidence Based Evaluations.
New Product Evaluations—a resource for medicines management / UKMi
North West Regional MIC / www.sps.nhs.uk
Document is updated monthly. Pulls together available medicines evaluations produced by reputable groups.
Patents Database / UKMi / www.sps.nhs.uk
Information only accessible via registering with the website
Prescribing Outlook / UKMi / www.sps.nhs.uk
Scottish medicines Consortium (SMC) reviews / SMC / www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/
All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) reviews / AWMSG / www.awmsg.org
European Medicines Agency / EMA / www.ema.europa.eu
Paediatrics
BNF for Children / BMA, RPSGB, RCPCH & NPPG (annual) / One paper copy considered essential for each MI centre (published annually). Online access preferred as updated monthly. www.medicinescomplete.com/mc/bnfc/current/
Note: BNFC Legacy website remains available through medicinescomplete.com
Paediatrics
Paediatric Formulary / Paediatric Formulary Committee / The formulary is now hosted on:
http://cms.ubqo.com/public/d2595446-ce3c-47ff-9dcc-63167d9f4b80
Updates will happen monthly, rather than there being editions. The 9th edition (previously Guy’s Paediatric Formulary) may still be accessible, but this is not the official version and will no longer be updated.
An App (currently only on iphone) is also available:
http://www.ubqo.com/paediatricformulary
Medicines for Children / Partnership RCPCH, NPPG and WellChild. / http://www.medicinesforchildren.org.uk/. Also contains patient information leaflets.
Palliative care
Palliative Adult Network Guidelines (PANG) / Developed by a collaboration of UK Cancer networks / http://book.pallcare.info/.
This should be used as a core resource in preference to the print version, but not the electronic version, of Palliative Care Formulary (see below).
Palliative Care Matters / Network of Palliative Care healthcare professionals. / http://m.pallcare.info
This is a mobile site (Smartphones and Tablets) but is also suitable for desktop access using the latest versions of Internet browsers.
Use in preference to PANG for syringe driver compatibilities
Palliativedrugs.com
(Palliative Care Formulary on-line) / Robert Twycross & Andrew Wilcock / www.palliativedrugs.com
(Registration required), but the syringe driver tables are freely available using login (click on SDSD tab).
Patient Information
NHS Choices / Gov.uk / http://www.nhs.uk
Patient UK / Patient Information Publications/ Egton Medical Information Systems / www.patient.co.uk.
This site has useful healthcare professional pages (see Therapeutics section below).
Pharmaceutical
The Fridge Database / UKMi
Northwick Park MIC / www.sps.nhs.uk
Medicines Compliance Aid (MCA) database / UKMi
Southwest Medicines Information / www.sps.nhs.uk
Pregnancy
At least two resources should be used for all pregnancy enquiries.
See also Resources for purchase list.
TOXBASE / UKTIS* UK Teratology Information Service / www.toxbase.org
Registration required.
Monographs not suitable as patient information leaflets—see BUMPs.
The summary information of the Toxbase monographs are openly available from http://www.uktis.org/
Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology / Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology / https://www.rcog.org.uk
A range of guidelines on women’s health is available.
BUMPS—Best use of medicines in pregnancy / UKTIS / www.medicinesinpregnancy.org.
Produced by UKTIS. Provides information factsheets (containing essentially the same information as Toxbase) suitable for members of the public which can be used in discussion with a health care provider. Inclusion on this list does not endorse its use by patients without such support.
Poisoning
TOXBASE / National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) / www.toxbase.org
Registration required.
For acute poisoning or for complex cases, refer directly to the Poisons Information Service:
0344 892 0111.
Before using the website, it is advisable to complete the e-learning modules available at www.toxlearning.co.uk
Statistics
Statistics in Divided Doses / North West MIC
UKMi / www.ukmi.nhs.uk/activities/Research/default.asp?pageRef=27
Therapeutics
Patient UK / Patient Information Publications / Egton Medical Information Systems / www.patient.co.uk.
After putting a term in the search box you will have a list of resources to choose from. Those with an apple and a plus sign are written for healthcare professionals and are an excellent resource with the following general headings: presentation, diagnosis, aetiology, epidemiology, assessment, management etc.
Therapeutics
The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment / Berkow, R et al
Merck and Co. / www.merckmanuals.com/professional/index.html.
The latest edition can also be purchased as a hard copy. Some topics have also been written for patients.
Dermnet / New Zealand Dermatological Society / www.dermnetnz.org/
A useful starting point for background information and advice for dermatological enquiries.
Travel
Malaria Reference Laboratory / HPA (now part of Public Health England) / www.malaria-reference.co.uk
Travel Health Pro
(NaTHNaC) / National Travel Health Network and Centre/Public Health England / http://travelhealthpro.org.uk/
The website is suitable for both healthcare professionals and travellers. Advice may differ from that in other sources (i.e. Travax, Fit for Travel). However, all advice is evidence based. It is advised that one resource only is used in these circumstances.
Health Advice for Travellers / NHS England / http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/Healthcareabroad/pages/Healthcareabroad.aspx
Fit for Travel / Provided by NHS Scotland. / www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk.
Public access site for sister site Travax.
This advice is based on that produced by NHS Scotland and may differ from advice in other sources (i.e. Travel Health Pro). However, all advice is evidence based. It is advised that one resource only is used in these circumstances.
Wound management and dressings
Dressings.org / Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory / www.dressings.org
NB website last modified Nov 2011
Date: October 2016