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Quality and usability of common drug information databases
Carmen M Mountford1, Teresa Lee, Jane de Lemos
1, BSc, BSc(Pharm), ACPR, is a Clinical Pharmacist, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy
|April 6, 2012
Summary
Canadian hospital pharmacists prefer Lexi-Comp Online for drug information databases, citing its quality and performance. Micromedex was least preferred due to usability issues, while Clinical Pharmacology lacked Canadian content.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy Practice
- Health Informatics
- Drug Information Systems
Background:
- Electronic drug information databases are crucial for pharmacists, but purchasing decisions may lack objectivity.
- Recent comparative analyses from Canadian hospital pharmacists' perspectives are scarce.
- User-friendly, accurate, and up-to-date drug information access is increasingly important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate and compare the quality, performance, and usability of commonly used online drug information databases.
- To determine user preferences among these databases for Canadian hospital pharmacists.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-methods approach using qualitative and quantitative analyses with descriptive and inferential statistics.
- Comparison of Clinical Pharmacology, Lexi-Comp Online, and Micromedex databases.
- Assessment of quality (5 indicators), performance (15 clinical questions), and usability (7 domains) with user rankings from 26 pharmacists.
Main Results:
- Lexi-Comp Online achieved the highest quality and performance scores.
- Micromedex received the lowest usability score, impacted by poor layout, navigation, and speed.
- Clinical Pharmacology lacked Canadian content; Micromedex was ranked lowest by users, with Lexi-Comp Online being the most preferred.
Conclusions:
- Lexi-Comp Online emerged as the most preferred drug information database among Canadian hospital pharmacists.
- Micromedex was identified as the least preferred database.
- These findings offer valuable insights for future database subscription decisions.
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