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- Published on: 11 August 2019
- Published on: 11 August 2019The utility of Medicines Information services in addressing GPs' specific information needs
Muscat et al1 report on their evidence-based information or ‘literature searching’ service supporting clinicians to answer their clinical questions. They found that treatment-related enquiries were one of the most common categories of clinical questions from a group of General Practitioners (GPs) from five practices in NSW and QLD, Australia. Medications are included in the classification systems used by the group. In particular the taxonomy of generic clinical questions includes at least seven codes specifically incorporating drug-related issues such as timing (code 2.1.1.3), indications (code 2.1.2.1* and 2.1.2.2), safety (code 2.1.3.3), adverse drug reactions (codes 2.1.3.1 and 2.1.3.2) and drug interactions (code 2.1.4.1).
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Medicines Information (MI) services also support clinicians in providing effective patient care and optimising therapeutic strategies in a timely manner. The National Prescribing Service funded Therapeutic Advice and Information Service (TAIS) operated in Australia from 2000 to 20102. It was a telephone-based service provided by a consortium of hospital-based medicines information services and handled over 6 000 enquiries annually from community based healthcare professionals across Australia. One third of enquiries were from GPs. Requests for advice regarding medication safety issues such as adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, dosing or administration and pregnancy or lactation were among the most common, supporting the findings of Musc...Conflict of Interest:
None declared.