Problem-oriented drug information: a clinical pharmacological service.

The experience of a drug information centre run by clinical pharmacologists and pharmacists with expertise in literature retrieval and evaluation shows there is a need for specialised drug information services both within hospital and in outpatient care. Complex clinical situations demand judicious drug use beyond the scope of desk manual guidelines. Clinical pharmacologists can help by reviewing information from medical literature and data bases not readily available to community physicians. Clinical questions are personally answered by referenced reviews after a literature search. The answers are then kept for future use in a data bank ('Drugline').