Inside Tomorrow's Pharmacist (2001)

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Searching the internet for pharmacy information

Quantity and quality?
Searching the internet for pharmacy information by Michelle Wake and Linda Lisgarten

The quantity of information on the internet is undeniable. Recently it was estimated that there are now over 100,000 health information websites and 86 per cent of internet users have looked for health information online. The biggest problem for the pharmacist seeking professional information or wanting to advise patients is to know of the best high quality sites for different types of queries. Also, you need to be aware of some of the hazards of seeking information via the internet. A common problem when seeking drug information is one of terminology and drug names. For example, paracetamol cannot be found in some of the US databases mentioned below because it is known in the US as acetaminophen. Another problem is differing licensing arrangements so that medicines that are available in one country might not be available in another. All the sources below have been checked for quality and you should find them useful to know about.

Directories

Directories are "virtual libraries" or as they are more commonly known, "internet portals". These sites act as gateways to the rest of the web by indexing relevant sites.

PharmWeb — at www.pharmweb.net was the first structured pharmacy internet portal and originated from the University of Manchester.

Set up predominantly for professionals it indexes web sites on everything pharmaceutical including government bodies, pharmacy schools, jobs, companies and societies.

DrugInfoZone — at www.druginfozone.org is run by the London and South East Eastern Drug Information Service. It provides up-to-date drugs news, current awareness bulletins and monthly updates on the latest published material for 44 major topics such as drug interactions, pain and poisoning. The material for these topics is taken from the Pharm-line database which indexes English language pharmaceutical and medical journals. A very good links page.

Virtual Library: pharmacy section — here is based in the US but does list UK sites, although not terribly thoroughly; there is no mention of the NHS for example.

PharmiWeb — at www.pharmiweb.com, run by a UK company, is aimed at the UK pharmaceutical industry with related news, company information and vacancies.

InPharm.com — at www.inpharm.com aims to encourage the growth of business sites by demonstrating the commercial possibilities of the internet. In addition to news, company information and employment opportunities, the site lists web sites according to particular topics, for example homoeopathy, aspirin and new drugs for stroke.

BIOME — at www.biome.ac.uk. This site allows you to search a catalogue of evaluated quality internet sites for the health and life sciences. Based at the University of Nottingham Medical Library BIOME is aimed at students, academics and health care professionals.

Societies

Most sites from societies and government bodies do not provide information on individual drugs — they concentrate on describing their organisations' role and structure.

Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry at www.abpi.org.uk. Lists the companies that make up its membership with links, where possible, to their web sites. Some of the association's publications which deal with specific conditions can be viewed on screen for free. Others can be ordered and for these there is sometimes a charge.

Association of Information Officers in the Pharmaceutical Industry at www.aiopi.org.uk. Provides pages of links to other pharmacy sites.

British Pharmaceutical Students' Association at www.bpsa.com. Organisational and event information about the UK's official body for pharmacy students.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain at www.rpsgb.org.uk. This is of course the site for the UK's professional and governing body for pharmacy. News and lists of interesting pharmacy related websites are provided.

News and lists of interesting pharmacy related web sites are provided including a link to Pharmacy in the Future at www.pharmacyinthefuture.org.uk. This site has been set up by the RPSGB and other UK pharmacy organisations to assist pharmacists in implementing the Government's plans for the NHS in England as outlined in the NHS Plan (July 2000) and Pharmacy in the Future (September 2000).

United Kingdom Drug Information Pharmacists Group at www.ukmi.nhs.uk. Provides pages of links to other pharmacy sites.

Government organisations

Medicines Control Agency at www.mca.gov.uk. This site has recently begun transmitting important safety messages and lists new drugs under surveillance.

Prescription Pricing Authority at www.ppa.org.uk

As a result of various UK government strategies to widen access to and promote the electronic transfer of information, the NHS is at the forefront of developing internet communications.2 These include the following two sites.

National Electronic Library for Health at www.nelh.nhs.uk. This pilot site aims to provide a digital library for NHS staff, patients and the public.

NHS Direct at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk. Designed for patients, NHS Direct gives advice on dealing with a range of symptoms and conditions.

To search for a UK government website that is not listed above go to www.ukonline.gov.uk.

Journals

Many electronic journals require you or your institution to pay a subscription, but there are some exceptions.

Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences here.

The Pharmaceutical Journal at http://www.pharmj.com. The full text of the RPSGB's weekly journal can be browsed and searched back to August 1999. The classified advertisements are also included so that the site can be used as a first resource for the job hunter. The site delivers additional information to the printed journal with news added daily and special interest sections. PJ Online for students is here.

Pharmaceutical Research is here.

For an extensive list of e-journals try www.freemedicaljournals.com.

Finding journal articles

MEDLINE is here. This extensive database from the National Library of Medicine in the United States contains over 11m references to science journals published since 1966 from around the world. You can search by subject, author, title, etc. Abstracts are provided for most of the articles and in some cases links are made to the full text, although to access the full text you may have to subscribe or pay a fee.

Books

The British National Formulary at www.bnf.org is updated twice a year, as is the printed version, but in addition the site contains a news section which is frequently updated. The BNF is for professional health workers and gives information on prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines.

Electronic Medicines Compendium at www.emc.vhn.net is the electronic version of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's Compendium of Data Sheets and Summaries of Product Characteristics. You do need to register to access the information on over 2,5000 medicines licensed in the United Kingdom, but this is free.

Patient information

NHS Direct, mentioned above, is designed for patients but does not deal with medicines in any depth. PharmWeb is constructing a site for the general public which includes how to deal with common problems such as cold sores and hayfever, but the most comprehensive source of drug information for the lay person is contained in the general public area of the Electronic Medicines Compendium. However, there are a few alternatives:

Patient UK at www.patient.co.uk is run by two GPs who provide lists of websites which they have annotated so that you can make some value judgment as to whether or not to click on the link. Medicines and drugs can be found at www.patient.co.uk/drugs.htm.

Medicine Chest at www.medicine-chest.co.uk has been set up by the Proprietary Association of Great Britain. It is a searchable directory of medicines and food supplements that can be bought over the counter. Searching can be done by product name or by symptom.

Ask Your Pharmacist at www.askyourpharmacist.co.uk has been set up by the National Pharmaceutical Association. It can be used to find your nearest pharmacy and gives basic details on how to use medicines. There is even an area designed for children which includes cartoons.

Intelihealth at www.intelihealth.com is one of the most comprehensive sources of drug information, although as it is created in the United States by the Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania and Aetna US Healthcare you must remember the US differences. It is aimed at patients but does have a "professional network" area. You can search using generic or brand names or select a condition and read about the relevant drug treatments. Information on a particular drug, such as side effects, is given from the US Pharmacopoeia database and/or the John Hopkins Drugs A-Z. Information from the US Food and Drug Administration on new drugs and recalls can be found at Intelihealth, but the FDA does have its own collection of web pages at www.fda.gov.

A number of pharmacies now provide online help to patients with specific queries including:

Boots The Chemist here.

The National Co-operative Pharmacy at www.co-oppharmacy.co.uk.

Email

PharmWeb gives a long list of e-mail groups. Perhaps the most relevant is the Usenet newsgroup uk.sci.med.pharmacy. The archive of previous postings can be found here.

Pharmacists registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland can join a range of mailing lists organised by Private-Rx at www.private-rx.net.

Want to know more?

To find out more about the internet in general try:

1. Winship I., McNab A. The student's guide to the internet 2000-2001. London: Library Association Publishing, 2000.

2. Bradley P. The advanced internet searcher's handbook. London: Library Association Publishing, 1999.

For more information about health and the internet take a look at:

1. Kiley R. (Ed.) A guide to healthcare resources on the internet. London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2001.

2. Wake M, Lisgarten L. Pharmacy on the web: quality information or information overload? Pharmaceutical Journal 2000;264:220-2.

The Pharmaceutical Journal is very good at highlighting new and improved web sites of interest to pharmacists.

Conclusion

Accessing the internet can be remarkably rewarding and effective in finding pharmacy information. But it is important to remember that it is not foolproof, nor is it all- encompassing. Strange to say, there are still many times when it is quicker and easier to consult a good printed resource — so if in doubt, to coin a phrase, it is a good idea to "ask your librarian!"

Michelle Wake is deputy librarian and Linda Lisgarten is chief librarian and head of library and information services at the School of Pharmacy, University of London