Documenting the activity and effectiveness of a regional drug information center.

The methods of data collection, storage, and retrieval used by the Rocky Mountain Drug Consultation Center (RMDCC) are described. To substantiate that drug information services provided by RMDCC are clinically useful and have a beneficial effect on therapy, data on medication-related problems and case outcomes, as well as demographic data, are stored in an IBM PC-XT using a system that allows searching and linkage of any number of recorded categories. Data were compiled on 28,081 inquiries from health-care professionals and consumers during 1985 and 1986. Analysis revealed that (1) medication-related problems are common (involving 34% of consumer inquiries), especially among the elderly; (2) a positive effect on therapy was made in the majority (76%) of problem cases; and (3) consumers were given drug information by their physician or pharmacist in fewer than half of the cases in which medications were prescribed and dispensed. A computer-based system to assist in analyzing information can be an important asset in documenting the activity and effectiveness of a regional drug information center.