Abstract
In order to complete a collecting and investigating system for adverse drug reactions in our Drug Information (DI) room, we have analyzed 836 (13.4%) inquiries selected from a total of 6261 inquiries sent to the DI room from Sept. 1983 to Aug. 1984. The survey procedures were divided into 3 steps as indicators to clarify the depth of information and difficulty of answers:
Step I: Adequate information can be presented by only package inserts-Solver's judgment is hardly necessary. Step II: Adequate information can be presented by drug handbooks (e. g. AMA-DE, PDR, AHFS, USP-DI, Extra Pharmacopoeia, etc.)-Solver's judgment is necessary. Step III: Adequate informtion can be presented only after original articles are referred to-Solver's judgment as well as the detail information is necessary.
From the analysis of inquiries, the following results were obtained: the inquiries concerning. blood disorder and hepatic disorder were ranked first (more than 20%) according to symptomatic classification, and by pharmacotherapeutic category those concerning cardiovascular agents, antibiotic preparations, agents affecting central nervous system and antitumor agents were rated high. From the analysis of survey procedures, it was found that the inquiries classified as Step I was less than 30% and most inquiries were classified as Step II or Step III. Thus, an accumulation of detailed information and an adequate judgment are required for DI activity.
We think that 3-step procedure for classification of inquiries used in the present analysis is a useful indicator to show depth of information and difficulty of answers.
