Drug Information and Literature Evaluation

Abstract

According to “About the Authors” section of this book, Marie A. Abate and Matthew L. Blommel, bring a combined tenure of 28 years to West Virginia University's Center for Drug and Health Information. Abate is nationally known in the arena of drug information and serves as director of the center, while Blommel serves as assistant director at the center. Blommel instructs in pharmacy-related information resources as well as precepts more than 150 pharmacy students in the advanced practice pharmacy experience drug information rotation program. Both authors are indexed in PubMed, reflecting their articles and studies conducted from the 1990s to present time. Collaborating as primary investigator and coinvestigator, Abate and Blommel authored two articles that were published in the February and August 2007 issues of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. The first article deals with a drug information self-assessment tool used by pharmacy students; the second article deals with a rubric that pharmacy students use to assess critical literature evaluative skills. Both articles reveal the importance behind data collection based upon self-assessment and feedback that goes toward fine-tuning a curriculum program and assessment tool. This attests to their knowledge and professionalism in the area of pharmaceutics. Drug Information and Literature Evaluation is one of several titles in the Remington Education Series. It should be noted that these beginning titles are aimed especially at those students who are pursuing an undergraduate pharmacy degree. Other series titles include Introduction to Pharmacotherapy, Physical Pharmacy, Law & Ethics in Pharmacy Practice, and Pharmaceutics. This book is similar in content and scope as Basic Skills in Interpreting Laboratory Data by Mary Lee, Fundamental Skills for Patient Care in Pharmacy Practice by Colleen Doherty Lauster and Sneha Baxi Srivastava, and Clinical Pharmacokinetics by John E. Murphy. Amazon.com states that these titles are often purchased or bundled together. Drug Information and Literature Evaluation is described as being written by pharmacists for pharmacists to assist in making their transition from the classroom realm of undergraduate pharmacy students to the pharmaceutical world as bona-fide pharmacists. Early on in the book's “Introduction,” the reader is provided with a listing of the twelve chapters and a brief synopsis for each chapter. Topics range from a suitable approach to an information request; to tertiary, secondary, and Internet information resources; and finally, to six specific steps one takes when evaluating clinical studies. The text of each chapter includes: learning objectives, tips and tricks, key points, illustrations, assessment questions, and further reading. This type of arrangement style reinforces the chapter's content and offers a quick glance at each chapter's contents. The answers are provided within the working examples, and answers to the self-assessments are located at the end of the book, along with a bibliography and subject index. In addition to being a guide for pharmacy students in evaluating medical literature such as clinical studies, this book would benefit novice librarians who are looking to augment their collections. In particular, the chapters on tertiary, secondary, and Internet resources offer a foundational starting point for available resources. These will be applicable in addressing a plethora of medication-related and health-related questions. The tertiary resources are divided into general drug information resources and information-specific resources. The secondary resources include abstracting or indexing services found at databases such as CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, or International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA). The chapter on Internet services reminds savvy public health consumers, when seeking their own information from the Internet, to take time to apply provided criteria and questions referenced in Table 4.1 (pp. 43–44). These questions should cover issues concerning the site's reliability, its accuracy, and its completeness. Drug Information and Literature Evaluation would be an asset to your library's collection and would offer both advantages and limitations to provided resources in print, online, or in mobile versions (p. iii).