THE International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) says more attention needs to be paid to improving the quality of medicines information resources across the globe.
A new Statement of Policy issued last weekend titled Strategic development of medicines information for the benefit of patients and users of medicine highlights the importance of the strategic development of medicines information, and describes short, medium and long-term outcomes of such an approach.
Short-term outcomes can include improved adherence to treatments, while medium-term outcomes include better communication between health professionals.
Longer term, better medicines information can result in improved self-care, FIP said.
The new statement is an update to a document issued in 2008, and continues to make recommendations for governments, member organisations and pharmacists.
However, the scope of the document has also been expanded to recommend to pharmaceutical and health industries that they should provide regularly updated, reliable information on medicinal products.
Educational institutions that train health care professionals should include the use of medicines information databases, the document adds.
"Medicines information can be inaccurate, overwhelming, biased or misunderstood, which presents potential health risks," said Professor Parisa Aslani, who is president of FIP's Health and Medicines Information Section.
"It is imperative that national medicines policies acknowledge the need for quality medicines information, and that these policies recognise pharmacists as being key in informing patients and fellow health care professionals about medicines," Aslani said.
The full statement of policy can be viewed at www.fip.org.
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