Access and use of medicines information sources by physicians in public hospitals in Uganda: a cross-sectional survey (original) (raw)
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Pharmacy Research Reports, 2020
Introduction: In line with the increasing drug information resources (DIRs) available for prescribers' references, the credibility of information obtained towards safe and judicious therapeutic decisions has become a concern. Objective: To explore DIRs preferred by the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (HQEII) prescribers and factors identified by the prescribers that determine their choice of DIRs. Method: This was a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire survey involving prescribers working in HQEII from May to July 2018. The questionnaire comprised questions about demographic information, preferred DIRs according to the information required, factors determining the choice of DIRs, frequency of DIRs use and subscription of paid DIRs. Results: Among the 117 respondents, majority were male (n=66; 56.4%) and medical officers (n=81; 69.2%) with median age of 28 years old (interquartile range=3). The three most preferred DIRs were consistent across all types of required drug-related information, comprising online/mobile medical database, consultation with pharmacists and senior medical officers. Accessibility (n=107; 91.5%), comprehensiveness (n=63; 53.8%) and urgency (n=58; 49.6%) were identified to be the factors influencing the choice of DIR. The most frequently used online/mobile DIRs were My Blue Book (n=54; 46.2%), Medscape (n=51; 43.6%) and UpToDate (n=50; 42.7%). Twenty-eight respondents (23.9%) subscribed to paid online/mobile resources, with UpToDate having the most subscription (n=25; 89.3%). For hardcopy references, Clinical Practice Guidelines (n=39; 33.3%), Sarawak Handbook of Medical Emergencies (n=33; 28.2%) and Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (n=20; 17.1%) were most frequently used. Out of 22 prescribers (18.8%) who purchased hardcopy references, Sarawak Handbook of Medical Emergencies was most purchased by the prescribers (n=10; 45.5%). Conclusion: Overall, prescribers in HQEII preferred online medical databases or mobile applications and peer consultation over hardcopy DIRs. Healthcare facilities or MOH may consider subscribing to the preferred DIRs to support the access to reliable databases which would facilitate safe and judicious prescribing decisions.
Medical Journal of Shree Birendra Hospital, 2022
The development of pharmaceutical industry has been adding new knowledge about drugs continuously making it difficult to remember each piece of information. The physicians need to be supplemented with new information using various unbiased and reliable drug information (DI) sources which will promote rationale use of medicines. This study aims to understand the commonly used sources of DI by prescribers at our institute, their usefulness and the need for an independent drug information unit at the institute. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study that included all prescribers presently working at this institute and actively involved in patient care was conducted. Consenting participants were requested to fill in the self-administered questionnaire. Data thus collected were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and were analysed using SPSS version 18. Results: Filled-in questionnaires were obtained from 147 prescribers. Almost all of the participants (95.80%) used textbooks and Online Medical Sites (OMS) as sources of DI. Among participants using OMS for DI, 80 (58.39%) classified them as sometimes biased. Less than half (41.25%) agreed that they will absolutely be benefitted from having unbiased DI services at the hospital. The participants most commonly (136, 92.50%) had queries related to dosage / administration on a daily basis. conclusions: Most prescribers relied on textbooks and OMS for DI which in their opinion had some level of biasness associated with them. They also agreed on the need of independent DI services in the institution to support prescription practices.
Healthcare professionals' level of medication knowledge in Africa: A systematic review
British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2018
Understanding how much healthcare professionals (HCPs) know about medication can help to devise strategies to improve rational medication use. This study aimed to synthesis information on the level of medication knowledge of HCPs in Africa. We performed a systematic literature study in Embase and PubMed. We included original studies quantifying HCPs' medication knowledge, published between 2012 and 2016. We extracted disease focus, country, number and type of HCPs included and all medication-related knowledge questions and scored the quality of papers. The outcome measure was the percentage HCPs who correctly answered medication knowledge questions. We identified 64 studies from 12 African countries, comprising 13,911 HCPs, mostly nurses/midwifes and physicians. We extracted 306 medication-related knowledge questions, and only 52% (SD 28) of HCPs correctly answered them. Knowledge questions were mainly about medication prescribed for communicable diseases (70%), followed by non-...
Use of a pilot drug information centre
African health sciences, 2011
Provision of access to drug information by prescribers and other health care professionals is important in pharmacotherapy. At the time of this study there was very scanty literature in this area from Africa. To assess use of a pilot drug information centre (DIC) which was set up in a department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in a university teaching hospital in Uganda. This was a situational analysis with a prospective study design. The pilot DIC was established and its use over an eleven-month period was assessed. The received queries were evaluated for source of the query, reason for the query and type of query. During the 11 months 297 queries were received, 72.3% of which were from public hospitals. Most were from prescribing doctors (54.2%). Majority were on drug-drug interaction (41.2%), followed by therapy (23.2%). Out of 197 specific drug requests, 65.5% were on antiretroviral. We found that healthcare professionals were enthusiastically using the drug information centre....
BioMed Research International, 2017
Background. Community pharmacists are in a key position to provide information on drugs and thus promote the rational use of drugs. Objectives. The present study was designed to determine the needs and resources of drug information in community pharmacies. Methods. A prospective institution based cross-sectional study was carried out and data were collected on 48 community pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, using interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Results. Almost all pharmacists (N=47, 97.9%) often receive drug related queries and these were mainly from consumers (N=41, 85.4%). While most questions relate to drug price (N=29, 60.4%) and dosage (N=21, 43.8%), the information resources mainly referred to were drug package inserts and national standard treatment guidelines. However, limited availability of information resources as well as limited ability to retrieve relevant information influenced the practice of pharmacists. Female pharmacists claimed better us...