Awareness about drug information center among health-care professionals at a tertiary care hospital

Materials and Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital. Health-care professionals (health-care teaching faculty, postgraduate students, interns, undergraduate students, nurses, and pharmacists) who gave informed consent were given a structured, pretested questionnaire. Drug Information; Drug Information Services; Rational Use of Medicines INTRODUCTION For optimal patient care, the task of remaining informed about clinically relevant aspects of benefits and safety of drugs is critical. [2] DI is defined as the knowledge of facts acquired through reading, study, or practical experience concerning any chemical substance intended for use in diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease. [4] DIC focuses on evidence-based medicine by collating information from various sources to improve patient care and keeping the health professional up-to-date. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted, for 8 weeks from May to June 2016, at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Solapur, Maharashtra. The study population included health-care professionals (medical teaching faculty, postgraduate (PG) students, interns, pharmacists, and nurses) and medical undergraduate (UG) students. [12,13] Data obtained were entered into MicrosoftExcel 2013 spreadsheet according to the group of participants (teaching faculty, PG students, pharmacists, nurses, and so on) for statistical analysis and percentages were calculated for concerned responses. [15] The frequent need for provision of DI, large number of preventable issues associated with drug prescribing, lack of accessible sources and lack of awareness about sources, emphasize the importance and need for DIC. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors duly acknowledge the contribution of Department of Pharmacology for its supportive...