One
of the fundamental roles of a licensed pharmacist is patient
education, commonly referred to as counseling. Communicating with
patients is an important way to avoid medication errors and help them
understand the intended effects as well as the side effects of
medicines.

A
Drug Information Centre (DIC) focuses on creating a pivotal for a
pharmacist in the healthcare system, which is possible only when a
pharmacist provide professional services to physicians and patients
at large and thus prove their overarching role in patient care.

The
journey of Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) DIC started in
September 2003, with the belief that ‘Information is the Best
Prescription’. Since then DIC has been providing in-depth, unbiased
crucial drug information to practicing physicians, pharmacists and
patients in India. DIC responds to queries received from doctors,
pharmacists and patients or consumers through email, phone or during
personal visit, using the Micromedex database and other resources.

MSPC’s
DIC is also involved in training the community pharmacist on various
aspects of drug, its usage and patient care through refresher and
patient counseling courses.

Carrying
forward the mandate of rationale usage of drugs in line with Pharmacy
Practice Regulations 2015, the patient counselling centre (PCC) at
KEM Hospital, Mumbai also has come full circle by catering to the
drug compliance requirements of over 3500 diabetic patients and
around 1800 patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric
disorders.

Aimed
at delivering clinically important, relevant and unbiased information
on medicines to patients, KEM Hospital and MSPC had jointly set up
the first of its kind PCC in Maharashtra in January this year to help
patients get the know-how about rationale usage of scheduled drugs
with help from a dedicated pharmacist.

Based
on the collaboration, MSPC has deputed a pharmacist at KEM Hospital
to help patients understand medical prescription, adverse drug
reactions, drug usage, dosage, schedule, drug-drug interaction and
contra-indications for better therapeutic outcomes.

Close
to serving the drug compliance requirements of around 2,000 new
diabetic patients over the past one year, the PCC has gradually
expanded its services in the specialty of epilepsy later this year.

As
per the system, a patient submits the stamped prescription of the
physician at the counseling centre. After studying the patient's
records, the pharmacist deputed at the centre counsels him on drug
usage with help from a Micromedex database on medicines.

The
centre is equipped with a robust evidence- based clinical reference
software called Micromedex which is user-friendly and makes available
drug information and clinical answers much faster and easier.

Says
Sheetal Chandan, pharmacist and co-ordinator at the centre, "The
pharmacist at the centre educates the patient about drug use and
aspects like drug-drug reaction, drug-food reaction and other
contra-indications.”

In
order to deliver clinically relevant information on drugs, the
concept of drug information centre (DIC) was started with 21 DICs in
the country. After the launch of Pharm D courses in India during
2008-2009, pharmacy colleges in India were eager to set up DIC and
the number of DICs in the country gradually increased to more than
100. However only a very few are working effectively now.

According
to experts the main reason is they are inclined more towards academic
information and not into delivering clinically relevant information
and details.

In
the wake of incidents of adverse drug reactions (ADR) two years ago
in 38 women at BMC run Bhabha Hospital, Kurla and at Rajawadi
Hospital in Vidyavihar East after being administered a variant
combination of two Schedule H1 antibacterial antibiotics -
ceftriaxone and cefotaxime, pharma experts have been insisting the
need for healthcare institutions to embrace the concept of DICs to
address the menace.

Out
of the 38 women who suffered drug reaction, a 47-year-old woman died
after 24 hours of suffering an ADR due to the administration of
antibiotic injections at BMC run Bhabha Hospital.

DICs
therefore according to experts would not only dispel misconceptions
with regards to medical prescription but also would help address the
pressing issues pertaining to adverse drug reactions, drug usage,
dosage and time schedule for patient safety.

Experts
rue that though the concept is old , it is not very popular in India
because of low awareness levels. In developed countries, pharmacists
running medical shops are supposed to provide drug information
through DICs. According to experts, DICs are important because drug
information helps minimise death due to adverse effect of drugs. This
is more relevant because India practically lacks a system to identify
the reason of deaths due to drug side effects.

First
DIC in India was started at JJ Hospital and KEM Hospital, Mumbai in
1968. There were around 21 DICs till 2008. Only government hospitals
like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi,
Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru and few state pharmacy councils were
equipped with DICs till a few years back.

Taking
cue from the developed countries where running a DIC is the main job
of a pharmacist, DICs should ideally be promoted in the country,says
Dr Atmaram Pawar, dean, pharmaceutical sciences and Bharati
Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune.

In
order to equip the pharmacists with the information towards educating
patients for safe and apt use of medicines, the MSPC has also
launched a Patient Counseling Course (PCC) for registered pharmacists
as a part of its Continuing Education Programme (CEP).

With
the objective of making a paradigm change in the image of pharmacy
profession from being a product oriented to patient oriented, MSPC’s
DIC also came out with Patient Counseling manual as a part of the
course containing over 100 drugs, a ready reckoner for the pharmacist
to cater to the contemporary health needs of the patients. The drugs
included in the manual approved by the Drug Controller General of
India (DCGI), informs the pharmacist about adverse drug reactions and
dispensing tips of drugs while counseling the patient.

Such
courses are aimed at ensuring that patient becomes an informed,
efficient and active participant in disease treatment, self care
management and use of certain medical devices. Many patients lack an
understanding about the expanded counseling roles that pharmacists
are prepared to provide.