E-DRUG: HIFA: Information needs of prescribers and users of medicines
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Dear E-DRUG members,
HIFA 2013 Challenge: Meeting the information needs of prescribers and users of medicines
Each year HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) includes a focus on a
specific group of healthcare providers. In previous years, we have
looked at students (2008-), nurses and midwives (2009), community
health workers (2010-) and citizens, parents, children and families
(2011/12-). On behalf of the HIFA Steering Group, we are delighted to
announce the focus of the HIFA 2013-15 Challenge: Meeting the
information needs of prescribers and users of medicines. We have
created a new page on the HIFA website for this purpose:
http://www.hifa2015.org/2013-15-challenge-prescribers-and-users-of-medicines/
[Please fix URL in browser if broken. DB]
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Access to reliable, unbiased information on medicines is fundamental
to health care. Prescribers and users often lack such information,
especially in low-resource settings. Some have no information at all,
or the information that they do have is commercially biased. As a
result, countless people suffer harm, and sometimes death, as a
result of prescribing errors such as the wrong medicine, or the wrong
dose. Furthermore, irrational prescribing promotes the emergence of
drug resistance. Countless people are already dying from multi-drug
resistant tuberculosis and other drug-resistant strains that have
emerged largely because of irrational prescribing. There is a real
and growing threat to the human species from new microbes that are
resistant to all known treatments.
Rational use of medicines can be defined as: "patients receive
medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet
their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time,
and at the lowest cost to them and their community".
http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/rational_use/en/index.html
"Irrational use of medicines is a major problem worldwide. WHO
estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed,
dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail
to take them correctly. The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines
results in wastage of scarce resources and widespread health hazards.
Examples of irrational use of medicines include: use of too many
medicines per patient ("poly-pharmacy"); inappropriate use of
antimicrobials, often in inadequate dosage, for non-bacterial
infections; over-use of injections when oral formulations would be
more appropriate; failure to prescribe in accordance with clinical
guidelines; inappropriate self-medication, often of prescription-only
medicines; non-adherence to dosing regimes."
http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/rational_use/en/index.html
As WHO has proclaimed: "Appropriate use of antibiotics [and other
medicines] is only possible if healthcare workers and the public have
access to reliable, unbiased information on medicines. Universal
access to reliable information on medicines is readily achievable and
should be a cornerstone of efforts to promote rational prescribing.
There is an urgent need for concerted action."
http://www.who.int/rhem/didyouknow/essential_medicines/rational_antibiotic_use/en/index.html
WHAT WE CAN DO
Our vision is that every prescriber and user of medicines will have
access to the information and knowledge they need to use medicines effectively.
We are bringing together a working-group of HIFA volunteers to take
this forward. The group will:
- promote discussion on HIFA2015 around relevant issues, including
drivers and barriers to the availability and use of reliable
information on medicines
- promote discussion on issues that are particularly relevant to
different groups of (1) prescribers and (2) users
- harness insights and perspectives from HIFA members and incorporate
these into the HIFA Knowledge Base (currently in development).
We also seek to define, with the HIFA membership at large, at least
one SMART Goal that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
and Time-bound.
This goal might be very specific and achievable within a short time
span. For example, we may seek to persuade a publisher to make a
vital publication freely available to all. Or it may be more
ambitious, and require a longer effort. Or indeed, we may do both.
WHO WILL LEAD THE 2013-2015 CHALLENGE?
Atai Okokon will lead the HIFA 2013-2015 Challenge with support from
HIFA coordinator Neil Pakenham-Walsh and the HIFA Steering Group.
Atai is a pharmacist with a passion for the availability and use of
reliable information on medicines. She trained in Nigeria, and is
currently doing a Masters in Global Health at the University of Oxford.
We invite all HIFA members with an interest to join the HIFA 2013
Challenge team to contact Atai at: atai.okokon@gtc.ox.ac.uk Please
note that all volunteers will need to be proactive and make
themselves available for regular skype meetings.
We look forward to working with you.
Best wishes,
Atai Okokon and Neil Pakenham-Walsh
On behalf of the HIFA Steering Group
http://www.hifa2015.org/about/administration/