National audit of drug information centers

A comprehensive audit of drug information centers (DICs) was conducted to obtain information on sources of funding, staffing, information resources, computerization, workload, and scope of services and activities and to examine the role of DICs in education, patient care, and research. Responses were obtained from 98 of the 121 DICs surveyed. The scope of activities and services varied considerably between centers and depended on such factors as source of funding, size of institution, academic affiliation, staffing, and workload. Many DICs are involved in writing newsletters, preparing information for pharmacy and therapeutics committee meetings, developing and updating formularies, and providing contract services to other organizations. The patient-care activities of DICs include providing consultations, performing drug-use reviews, monitoring adverse drug reactions, and coordinating investigational drug studies; DICs are also involved in training undergraduate and graduate pharmacy students and residents and conducting research projects. Large workloads and lack of time were cited most often as factors limiting DIC participation in patient-care, educational, and research activities. Because DICs are involved in a wide variety of educational, research, and patient-care activities, more emphasis should be placed on documenting the costs of these services in relation to their benefits to the institution.