INDICES> Setting up a Drug Information Centre (3)

["Andy Gray" <andy@healthlink.org.za>]

INDICES> Setting up a Drug Information Centre (3)
-------------------------------------------------

Hi all

In response to Kate Kikule's request, and Wilbert Bannenberg's 
prompt, here's one possible source of help.

The South African Association of Hospital and Institutional 
Pharmacists (SAAHIP) is busy developing "Practice Standards" for particular 
aspects of institutional practice. The first two have been drafted, 
but have as yet not been finalised by the National Executive. Carolyn 
Rochat  <rochatc@nbi-kzn.org.za> was responsible for drafting the 
document on "Drug Information Services". 

Her draft currently addresses the following aspects:
* definitions
* objectives
* extent and operation of the practice or service (services; access; 
service provision; hours of service)
* policies (data maintenance; speed of response and identification of 
caller; call transfers and return calls; enquiries about adverse 
reactions; use of animal studies; copyright law and photocopying; 
liability; liability towards pharmaceutical companies in respect of 
statements made about their products; confidentiality; specialisation 
and networking)
*resources (references; facilities and equipment)
* staffing structures and levels
* training and education of staff (general; experience; maintenance 
of skills)
* procedures and documentation (contact with and identification of 
the enguirer; classification of the request; obtaining background 
information; establishing if caller has consulted references; 
assignment of priority; systematic search; formulating a response; 
communicating the response; follow-up; documentation; logging)
* quality assurance (workload statistics; enquirer assessment; peer 
review)
* appendices (sample query form; recommended sources, including books 
with ISBN numbers and journals)

References to other guidelines (ASHP, SHPA etc) are also provided. Anyone 
interested should perhaps consult Carolyn directly. Once finalised, 
the practice standards will be featured on SAAHIP's web site 
(http://www.saahip.org.za) 

regards
Andy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy Gray
Co-ordinator: Drug Management   
Initiative for Sub-District Support
email: andy@healthlink.org.za
http://www.hst.org.za
Tel: +27 31 2044358 Fax: +27 31 2044792
--
Send mail for the `INDICES' conference to `indices@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to:  `owner-indices@usa.healthnet.org'.