Title 19. SYSTEMATIC APPROACH IN ANSWERING DI QUERIES.pdf ✅

PHARMD GURU Page 1 SYSTEMATIC APPROACH IN ANSWERING DI QUERIES Whether you’re on a drug information, community, or hospital rotation, these 7 steps will help you provide the best possible answer to any medication question. 1) Secure requestor demographics: It’s important to know your audience, as your response technique may differ depending on whether the question comes from a health care professional or a patient. For example, you’d use the word “renal” with a pharmacist and “kidney” with a patient. It’s always best to inquire how the requestor would like the information delivered (e.g., phone or fax), as this will help ensure adequate follow-up. 2) Obtain background information. This is historically the most difficult step because you must act as a detective. Determine whether it’s a general or patient-specific question, and then identify resources the requestor has already consulted to help facilitate the process. For patient- specific questions, it’s important to inquire about pregnancy, weight, and renal function. 3) Determine and categorize the question. If a pharmacist requests information about whether a patient who’s breastfeeding can take amoxicillin, this would be classified as a lactation question. Various categories may include pregnancy, drug interaction, pharmacy law, or pill identification. 4) Develop a strategy and conduct a search. First, begin with tertiary literature, which is a compilation of primary literature. This may include text books like Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation or drug information DRUG & POISON INFORMATION