Drug Information requests are often performed by clinicians looking for more information than most mobile applications and drug references can provide.
Many institutions utilize pharmacists to process these questions, and a few larger institutions even fund Drug Information (DI) centers to handle them.
Recently, Mercer University College of Pharmacy launched an app called InPharmD, which is an online subscription platform to handle DI questions from any healthcare provider.
Their platform seeks to provide customized information for those seeking further information on a topic. This is a large step in the DI world, as no current platform in this purview currently exists. Such a service may be beneficial to clinicians looking for further information that is not available via drug information databases and that may require further research into available studies. This could deal with incidents of drug interactions or rare side effects, dosing schemes, pharmacokinetics, and more.
As founder, Ashish Advani, PharmD describes it,
“Existing drug information websites and apps do not offer customized drug information, and existing drug information centers that provide customized drug information do not presently offer a website and app as a means of communication. With this endeavor, we aim to promote the exchange of drug information in a way that has never been done before.”
Many clinicians may find such a app beneficial as it can provide an easily accessible DI Center at their fingertips, with a small turnaround time.
This platform is similar to the already successful HealthTap app which has allowed physicians to answer general medically related questions submitted by patients. The primary difference is that InPharmD charges a monthly or annual based subscriptions for users, and the service is based upon the pharmacists involved at Mercer and not a clinical pool nationwide.
For further information, please watch the following video from InPharmD.
