One only has to pay attention to the dozens of television commercials for prescription drugs to realize that there is a tremendous need for reliable drug information. Prescription drugs can make the difference in turning around a patient’s health picture. But it is up to doctors as well as consumers to know how to evaluate prescription drugs before they are used and to do so with a critical eye.

The history of medical disasters caused by trusting pharmaceutical drugs in the past is both tragic and sobering. A consumer only has to pay attention to those television commercials for prescription drugs and listen to the list of potential harmful side effects to come to understand that some of those drugs represent more risk than hope in helping with difficult medical problems. But there are reliable independent authorities who can provide reliable drug information and it is worth the time to learn how to access that expertise.

The pharmaceutical industry is a great place to turn to for reliable drug information that will cut through marketing and take seriously whether a prescription drug being considered by a patient is worthwhile or suspect. There are a number of resources that are supported by universities that offer degrees in pharmacy. These resources are available to pharmacists and the general public to use to get the facts about a particular prescription drug.

A good example of this kind of resource that can be trusted for reliable drug information is The Division of Drug Information Service, which is supported by the University of Iowa. In addition to offering drug information support to pharmacists and students of pharmacy, the DDIS offers helpful online tools that are constantly available to make worthwhile drug information easy to access through the internet.

The need to have resources for reliable drug information is just as important for the layperson as it is to a medical professional. But that drug information resource is already at the disposal of the consumer from a local expert in the vast world of prescription drugs. And that expert is a friend and neighbor that is ready and willing to help his or her patient’s access quality drug information. That expert is the local pharmacist.

Along with a patent’s doctor, the pharmacist is someone that patients and their families can look to for unbiased and well-informed drug information. That is a resource worth exploring and taking advantage of because the responsibility for management of prescription drugs lies with the consumer as much as it lies with the medical professionals charged with the job of caring for their patients.

http://www.nchealthinfo.org/reference_and_tools/DrugInfoOnline.cfm

http://www.uiowa.edu/~idis/Cust_DI_Instruct_HostSite.pdf

http://www.uiowa.edu/~idis/herbalinks/