Help Desk

Drug Data Online

■ Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins (LWW, publisher of Ophthalmology Management) offers physicians up-to-the-minute information on drugs with www.eDruginfo.com. The online resource features updates on recently approved drugs and new indications, as well as links to the Web pages of pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and other online drug information sites. FDA MedWatch, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the National Institutes of Health are among the sites featured.

"Drug Updates" provide users information on new drugs, including available forms, indications and dosages, contraindications and cautions, interactions and potential adverse reactions. Site users can register to receive e-mails informing them when new drug updates have been posted.

Visitors can click on "Patient Teaching" to find clear, concise explanations for patients about new drugs such as ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) in a reader-friendly format. They instruct the patient what to do if he misses a dose and also address the problems of worrisome side effects and interactions with other medications.

"News Capsules" and "Drug Warnings" offer physicians summaries of the latest drug developments such as the recent cold medicine and infants controversy and the introduction of a new HIV drug.

The "Quik Tools" link, designed to support LWW's MediQuik drug cards, allows visitors to create individualized drug regimen calendars for patients. The "Construct-a-Card" feature enables site users to make drug information cards for themselves that include pronunciation, therapeutic class, pregnancy risk category and how it is supplied.

And in keeping with current trends, a weekly "Herbal Spotlight" addresses the increasingly popular use of complimentary and alternative therapies doctors are finding among their patients. "It's important because these things interact with traditional drug therapies," explains an LWW representative, so adverse reactions and interactions are covered.

Finally, "Drug Info Bookstore" links to LWW's online store and lets visitors purchase books and software aimed at various subspecialties.

According to LWW, the Web site receives approximately 1,900 hits per day. OM