Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)’s advanced corporate drug information services ensure safe, effective and efficient use of medicine among patients.
It’s Drug Information Center helps answer questions that patients have about any type of medicine that they have been prescribed and bought through home delivery service or purchased at retail pharmacies.
It also assists healthcare professionals in any queries related to medicines, said Dr. Moza Al Hail, Executive Director of Pharmacy Department at the HMC.
“The corporate drug information services at HMC is a consultative service supporting healthcare providers and the patients that aims to promote the safest, most effective and most efficient use of medicine, through our clinical and patient enquiry answering service,” she told The Peninsula.
Drug information pharmacists utilize a comprehensive and diverse range of information sources including drug databases, specialist texts, and primary journals to provide evidence-based information related to all aspects of medication use.
According to Dr. Al Hail, in 2021 the Drug Information Center received 9,000 calls from healthcare providers requesting information around medication use.
“The poison information services also received 200 calls from healthcare professions specifically on best possible antidotes, dose and contraindications. The poison information pharmacy team has received training session and special courses on dealing with poison cases,” she said.
The drug information services helpline 4026 0747 is currently available for all healthcare providers and patients from 7 am to 10 pm during week days.
Pharmacy Department at the HMC also assists patients who require information about their medications received through the Medication Home Delivery Services.
“We have dispensed more than 100,000 medication orders via Q-Post during the last year. We have also ensured that all the medications are dispensed and delivered with utmost care and within the required temperature, as we dispensed 12,500 fridge items and by maintaining the cold chain supply. We had also conducted a patient satisfaction survey and received positive feedback from all our patients,” said Dr. Al Hail.
“We have assigned pharmacists at the dedicated call centres for patients to enquire about their medications, request drug information or receive counselling on medications used in special conditions, or enquire about drug interactions or contraindications. In 2021, the pharmacy call centres received more than 150,000 patient calls seeking information and requesting their medications,” she added.
The drug information service has also submitted several research projects that are currently in different stages such as proposal writing and submission, data collection and analysis, publications. Being medication experts, the drug information pharmacist are an integral part of the clinical practice guideline review committee and they contribute to the clinical practice guideline reviews periodically.
