 | | | We support the safe, effective and efficient use of medicines by
providing quality evidence based information and advice |
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‘The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it’
-Samuel Johnson | |
| | | | About us: | | At the Regional Drug and Therapeutics Centre we provide a Medicines Information service which is a valuable resource for health care professionals. We also publish a number of useful documents to assist healthcare professionals in their daily practice, including New Drug Evaluations, Safer Medication Use bulletins, Drug updates, and Medicines Q&As. |
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| | | Why use our Medicines Information Service? | | In recent years there has been a literature ‘explosion’, with extracting quality information about medicines becoming more and more difficult. The impact of the
internet has led to a massive amount of information being available to patients and prescriber, but lack of regulation means some information can be misleading or inaccurate. Literature searches, evaluating evidence and formulating an evidence based answer can be time consuming and impractical for a busy healthcare professional. |
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| | | Our Staff | | We are a multidisciplinary team consisting of Pharmacists, Medical Information Scientists and Nurses. Medical support is provided by a consultant physician |
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| | | Our Resources
| | Along with the knowledge and experience of our staff, our resources include a wide range of pharmaceutical and biomedical information, such as online databases, books and journals,
and in-house files. We utilise standard UKMi search strategies to find the most relevant information in a systematic, accurate and timely manner.
Useful Links |
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| | | Who can use our service? | | We answer enquiries from Primary Care NHS health professionals in the Northern and Yorkshire Region. This includes areas covered by the following Primary Care Trusts:
| Hartlepool
Hull Teaching
Kirklees
Leeds
Gateshead
East Riding of Yorkshire
Darlington
Cumbria
County Durham
Calderdale
Bradford & Airedale
Teaching
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South Tyneside
Stockton on Tees
Sunderland Teaching
Wakefield
Redcar & Cleveland
Northumberland Care Trust
North Yorkshire & York
North Tyneside
Newcastle
Middlesbrough |
| Our service is ideal for GPs, Community Pharmacists, PCT advisors, nurses, midwives, and other healthcare professionals. If you are a member of the public requiring advice about medicines, please contact NHS Direct. Please note that we cannot make clinical decisions for individual patients, as this would have to involve discussion with the patient’s clinician. Secondary Care health professionals and enquiries regarding a hospital inpatient or medicines which have been initiated or recently treated in secondary care could be referred to the relevant local MI centre. Follow this link for a directory of Medicines Information Services. |
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| | | What type of Enquiries Can We Answer? | | With access to a wide variety of resources, we can answer the following types of calls. | | Patient Specific or General Enquiries | Herbal or
complementary medicines | | Administration of Medicines | Pharmaceutical | | Drugs in Pregnancy | Pharmacology | | Drugs in Lactation | Adverse Effects | |
Drug Interactions | Pharmacokinetics | | Drug Identification | Substance Misuse | | Indications or contra- indications | Evidence Review |
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| | | Clinical Governance | | As part of the UKMI network, our
service conforms to national standards and specifications. Our centre is audited regularly and we can also provide audits to local MI centres within our area. We follow legal and ethical guidance produced by UKMI and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. All of our enquiries are peer reviewed. |
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| | | Confidentiality | | We are an NHS service and are bound by Caldicott Guidelines and the data Protection Act. |
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