Access to Drug Information Sources among Healthcare Professionals in Lagos State, Nigeria: an Exploratory Study

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Date
2017
Authors
Anasi, S.N
Lawal, F.O
Grant, E.O
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Abstract
Quality of healthcare in developing countries (1). The World Health Organization's framework for action on strengthening health system also underscores the fact that information is the first building block of an effective health system (2). Access to precise and appropriate drug information (DI) by healthcare professionals, patients and the public is crucial to ensuring optimization of therapy (3). Consequently, the provision of adequate DI will help in improving patient outcome, reducing medication errors and related healthcare costs (4). Although access to high quality information is essential for good health, in most resource-poor countries many healthcare professionals, health organizations and the public still lack reliable and relevant DI and this is a major contributor to avoidable morbidity and mortality (5). The paucity of up-to-date evidence-based medicines information is a chronic feature amongst healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa (6). This poses a huge challenge for healthcare workers in Nigeria. In tackling this challenge, healthcare professionals in Nigeria need access to reliable, appropriate and unbiased DI whilst optimizing individual drug therapy. A number of studies have been conducted in developed and developing countries on information seeking behavior of health care professionals (7-10). These studies revealed that health care professionals seek information actively from diverse resources to guide their professional practice.
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Staff Publications
Keywords
Access to Information , Drug Information Services , Nigeria , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Other social sciences::Library and information science
Citation
Lawal, F.O, Anasi, S.N and Grant, E.O (2017). Access to Drug Information Sources among Healthcare Professionals in Lagos State, Nigeria: an Exploratory Study. Journalof EAHIL, Vol.13(4), 19-24p.