Issues on Source, Access, Extent, and Quality of Information Available Among Pharmacists and Pharmacy Personnel to Practice Effectively

This chapter describes the source, access, extent, and quality of information available among pharmacists and pharmacy personnel in developing countries to practice effectively. Our world today witnesses huge advancements in the information-related technologies and in the amount of medicines information available and accessible by all healthcare providers as well as the public. Remaining in the front line as medicines information providers represents great challenge for pharmacists. Scientific biomedical journals represent the core source of our knowledge about medicines. Textbooks and books represent the cornerstone for a user who has no or little basic information about certain topic. Today, the Internet is the most commonly used source of information for a variety of uses and topics. The literature available in our hand indicates the presence of medicines information centers in a variety of countries from the developing world. Manufacturers of medicines usually represent an important source of information on medicines specifically about the labeled and off-label indications. Every source of medicines information is having its specific points of strengths and weaknesses and an information user should be aware of that.