INDICES> Quality assurance in a Drug Information Centre (2)

[DID <did.jms@imul.com>]

INDICES> Quality assurance in a Drug Information Centre (2)
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Dear Emilia Vitoria,

After one year of serious work at a Drug Information Centre in Uganda
(E.Africa), I have observed that the following would be aspects to check
out for: 

In summary:

Availability of personnel and Independent Resource material

Are questions and answers recorded properly and clearly 

Is there Research in drug use, and a Drug Bulletin from the DIC

What is the range and number of customers 

And is there periodic evaluation of activities of the DIC. 



Personnel:

Are they qualified?  

The nature of questions i have received in the last one year indicate to
me that a good and high quality pharmacist must be on the answering team.
 The pharmacist must be good at clinical pharmacy and, must have hours of
practising pharmacy on ward rounds.

All answers to questions sent to the DIC must be cross - checked by a
colleague.  Though cross - checking is not needed in some cases, it is at
times required, especially when material given is just thought out to
suit a particular setting.  


Resource material available:

Are independent up to date references available or accessible?

Are they useful?

Are they used?

Very good resource material is extremely necessary.

But, there is need for a good team to adapt the material to local
conditions. 


Recording of questions and answers:

Are all queries recorded properly and clearly?

Are all answers recorded?

Are answers given in time as requested?  Will a DIC that gives answers to
queries on poisoning 6 days later be a good one?

You could check for speed, accuracy and quality of answers.  

Will the answers be useful in the conditions of the professional
requesting help?


Research in drug use:  

For a good Drug Information service, we must know what is
happening on the ground.

Research is important to identify and quantify magnitude of drug use
problems.  As a baseline for intervention.  

My view is that all pharmacists providing drug information services must
spend some hours a week on ward rounds.

And it will be easier to pick topics for a useful Drug Bulletin -- this
bulletin is designed for health workers. 



Drug Bulletin:

You may decide to assess the frequency of the bulletin, timeliness
of each issue and extent of distribution.

Are the readers interested in the bulletin?

Do they get the bulletin in time?


Range and number of customers:

Are policy makers deriving value from the DIC?

As we practice, we find that some things in terms of research in
medicines must be done.  We even find that some policies or
implementation of the law must be done for a better drug use system.  We
also notice need for changes in dosage forms.  Need for including certain
drugs in the National Formulary and removing others.

Is the National Drug Regulatory Agency picking anything from the DIC?


Are pharmacists, doctors and dispensing staff deriving value from the
DIC? 


Are there any activities geared to the general public?


Are activities geared to the general public raising awareness (concerning
dangers of medicine over use and misuse), causing knowledge acquisition
and influencing medicine use behaviour of your citizens?


Periodic Evaluation:

Does the DIC evaluate its activities at health worker level?

For usefulness and change in practice of heath workers?

How often?

Does the DIC respond to the needs of the health workers?


May be that will act as a skeleton.


Best regards,


George Kibumba, MPS(Uganda).

Drug Information Pharmacist
Drug Information Desk,
Joint Medical Store,
P.O.BOX 4501, KAMPALA, Uganda(E.A)
e-mail: did.jms@imul.com
Tel:    256-41-268482
fax:    256-41-267298

[thanks, George! WB]
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