Medicines Information Course SQUH May 2008-04-14
Pre – course work tasks

These are some suggested activities to perform prior to the Medicines Information Course.

Refer to the course web site to access some of the resources;

http://www.pharminfotech.co.nz/oman/omandi08.htm

All participants;

1. Complete the Training Needs Analysis on the web site. (optional, please complete if time permits)

2. Complete the pre-course assessment (also available on the web site)

Basic Group

1.  Work through the tutorial http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/pharmacist

2.  Use Google to find information about the adverse effects of metformin

3.  Find a more specific website to find information about adverse effects of drugs.
Here are some clues;
Medsafe
RxList
Medscape

4.  Make some comparisons of the web sites you find. Which are the most trustworthy, reliable and give the best quality information ?

5.  Explore the Drug Information Text Books and resources that you have available (e.g Martindale, drug package inserts). How useful are these to answer questions about adverse effects and drug interactions.

Intermediate Group

  1. Complete the basic group tasks if you are not familiar with them
  2. In addition, if you are not already member, register for Medscape
    www.medscape.com
    Explore the features of this site and find the “Drug Interaction Checker” and use this to find information about the drug interaction between fluoxetine and sumatriptan.
    Compare this information from that in other resources such as text books.
  3. If possible download the free trial of DynaMed http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/ (you can do this in groups)
    This site is an evidence based summary site. See if you can find information about the treatment of neuropathic pain. What are the treatments that have the most supporting evidence?
  4. Read the article about Relative Risk and NNTs available from
    http://www.australianprescriber.com/magazine/31/1/12/6/
    You can download a pdf of this and print it if you like. We will discuss this more at the course.

Advanced Course

  1. Complete the tasks of the Basic and Intermediate groups if you are not familiar with them.
  2. In addition find drug advertisement from your work and appraise its claims and be ready to summarise your findings to the rest of the group at the course.
  3. Write a short article (two or three paragraphs) on a topical issue that would be suitable for a drug information bulletin in your hospital.
  4. Find a resource for free full text medical journals on the internet
  5. Prepare a short outline for a drug information procedure manual for your workplace. Consider what content and resources you would need. This manual will be intended as a resource for other people in your workplace.
    OR
    Make a list (about 5 -8) of your preferred Medicines Information web sites. Be prepared to describe these to the rest of the group and indicate why you think they are valuable and useful.