Abstract
Objective
To systematically compare patient drug information handout sources and make an informed decision about which handouts to give patients in a health maintenance organization.
Methods
Desirable patient handout structure and content elements were identified. Known drug information sources were listed and an Internet search was performed to locate additional sources. Products were scored according to the extent that they contained the desirable elements.
Results
Eight patient drug information sources were evaluated. These sources were the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, Clinical Reference Systems, First Data Bank, Gold Standard Multimedia, Lexi-comp, Micromedex, Mosby, and Multum. The maximum possible score was 75. Lexi-Comp received the highest score (67). Gold Standard Media had the second highest score (63). Conclusions: Lexi-Comp's product was found to have the best overall structure and content. The scoring system used was based on what the author deemed important and could be altered to reflect different values (eg, items could be weighted differently based on their relative importance).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.