The Gap in Electronic Drug Information Resources: A Systematic Review

The landscape of drug information is growing, leading to information overload from various avenues, both scientific and public opinion. The completeness of these resources are not well-studied and no standardizations exist for these databases. Thus, it is not uncommon to have missing information across the drug information resources used by healthcare professionals. Such gaps in these resources may lead to fatal and nonfatal incidences if more than one resource is not consulted. To date, there have been numerous medication errors reported in the literature. In an effort to review the data found in drug information resources, we conducted a comprehensive search of the PubMed, Embase, and EBSCO electronic databases from January 2000 to January 2017, using the terms “drug information,” “medical information,” and “drug information resource.” A total of 14 articles were identified and five were included in our review, which evaluated the differences between drug information resources. Two articles evaluated pharmacogenomics information, one was infectious disease-specific, one evaluated usability as well as other factors, and the last evaluated general content. Overall, there was consistency across the articles in that they each reported on disparities in drug information among several drug information resources. Drug information keeps changing, and it is imperative that healthcare professionals have access to multiple resources to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information. We strongly encourage the standardization of drug information content on drug information resources as well as the information made available from pharmaceutical companies, as it may refine the quality of drug information provided to help prevent medication errors and adverse drug events.