At the core of Clinical Pharmacology are the drug monographs that provide clear, succinct, peer-reviewed information on all US prescription drugs, as well as coverage of herbal, nutritional, investigational, and over-the-counter products. Each monograph offers easy-to-navigate tabs for description/classification, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, indications/dosage, administration, contraindications, pregnancy, interactions, adverse reactions, IV compatibility, how supplied, monitoring parameters, and a link to the natural product/drug interaction report from the Natural Medicine’s Database.
The interactive tools that are part of Clinical Pharmacology should not be overlooked. These tools can be accessed from the drop-down menus that are located at the top of each page. From the Reports tab you can customize a drug interaction report, a clinical comparison report, or look at the IV compatibility of two drugs. The IV compatibility report is drawn from Trissel’s 2™ Clinical Pharmaceutics Database.
What if you don’t know the name of the drug you are looking for, but you need to find out which drugs have the adverse reaction of dizziness? You can run a search based on adverse reaction from the Find/List tab. Additional options found under this tab include searching by indication, contraindication, NDC, or manufacturer. You can also view an A-Z list of all the monographs available in Clinical Pharmacology, generate a listing of all the drugs that interact with grapefruit juice, view a list of all the monographs that contain a black box warning, and view a listing of products that require a MedGuide. In the instances that the MedGuides are copyright free, the full document is provided and can be printed off and distributed to patients.
Speaking of patients, Clinical Pharmacology also provides access to printable patient-level drug information MedCounselor Sheets. These can be accessed from the Patient Education tab. The MedCounselor Sheets comply with national standards for Consumer Medication Information and are available in both English and Spanish. When you print a MedCounselor Sheet you are also given the option to customize it per patient by including the patient’s name, institution, and the name of healthcare provider. There is even the capability to increase the font size of the printout for low vision patients. Because the Sladen Library subscribes to MDConsult, you can also access the Patient Education portion of MDConsult from the Patient Education tab in Clinical Pharmacology.
The Resource Center tab contains numerous point-of-care reference materials and tools. The Lab Reference Values area provides traditional units for many standard lab tests including those found in a Coagulation Panel, an Arterial Blood Gas Panel, a Metabolic Panel, and a Urinary Renal Panel. The Clinical Calculators section of the Resource Center provides access to dozens of drug calculators, unit conversion calculators, clinical criteria/decision tree calculators, and medical calculators which are powered by MedCalc 3000. Some of the available medical calculators can aid in determining values such as creatine clearance and total lung capacity.
As you can see, Clinical Pharmacology is a wonderful reference tool for the pharmacist, lab technician, physician, and nurse. There is much more to this database than what is listed here. The best way to discover your favorite tools is to visit the website for yourself and see all that it has to offer. Clinical Pharmacology can be accessed from the Medline & More page on the Sladen Library website or from the blue Quick Links box located along the right side of every Sladen page. If you have any questions about this resource and would like to speak with a librarian, please contact us at 313-916-2550 or sladen@hfhs.org.
-JoAnn Krzeminski
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