10 Clinical Resources Every New Pharmacist Needs to Know
There’s a lot to learn in pharmacy. With over 19,000 prescription drug products approved for marketing by the FDA, you could say it is impossible to know all the details about every single one of them. New information and medications are coming out all of the time so it is not only hard to learn all the information to begin with, but also keep up with the ever changing evidence based recommendations. The good news is, there are resources out there that make it easier to find the information you don’t know and keep you up to day with the changes occurring in the area(s) you practice in. Today, I’m sharing 10 of my top clinical resources that every new pharmacist should know about.
Guideline Central: Treatment guidelines are the bread and butter of evidence based medicine. The problem is they change all the time, aren’t always easy to find, and there may be multiple guidelines available for a single disease state. Guideline Central is the answer to your problems. This online and app based database give you access to thousands of clinical practice guidelines that are not only searchable, but also organized by specialty, organization, and date. If the guideline exists, you can find it on Guideline Central. If you want to stay in the know before your providers start asking you questions related to the latest guidelines, you can set up email alerts to get notified when a new guideline in your specialty of choice gets published.
FDA Newsletters: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a lot going on when it comes to the pharmacy profession. As the government agency that oversees the safety and efficacy of drugs, medical devices, biologics and more, many of the decisions the FDA makes can impact pharmacy practice. One of the best ways to stay up to date on new drug approvals, recalls, drug shortages, and drug safety communications is by signing up for customized FDA newsletters. You can get updates on a variety of topics and specialties as well as choose the frequency in which you receive these updates.
MD Calc: This is one of my favorite medical calculators. From the cockroft-gault equation to steroid conversion calculators, MD Calc has got you covered. Their searchable calculator platform makes it easy to find what you are looking for on a moments notice, even if you don’t have your computer handy, you can pull up any of these calculations on your phone using the MD Calc Medical Calculator app.
tl;dr pharmacy: While this resource was a savior for me during pharmacy school, I have also found their charts and resources helpful as a new practitioner pharmacist. Between their free blog posts to their paid pocket guides, cheat sheets, and MPJE resources you can find something that will make your life as a pharmacist a little bit easier.
Lexicomp: Now, if you are a practicing pharmacist, I’m sure you are familiar with Lexicomp by now. It’s my all-time favorite drug resource. However, I wanted to mention it in case you weren’t using it to its full potential. Lexicomp offers more than just drug monographs but also medical calculators, comparison drug tables, a great drug ID software, and a comprehensive drug interaction checker. If you haven’t spent the time to look around the software, I suggest diving deeper into all the tools available to you.
Micromedex: In many ways, I consider Micromedex my second choice when it comes to drug monographs. However, there’s one feature I think is better on Micromedex than on Lexicomp and that is the toxicology information. Since I’ve spent most of my time in clinical practice working in children’s hospitals, I have seen a lot of medication ingestions. Kids love getting into things that don’t belong to them which leaves the healthcare professionals taking care of them searching for the best treatment. While poison control is always notified, I frequently got questions about things like “How long will it take for this medication to wear off?” or “What kind of side effects can we expect in a kid this size?” Thankfully, Micromedex has an incredibly comprehensive database that includes case studies which helped me answer these difficult questions. When it comes to toxicology, it is a great resource to start with.
Memory Pharm Coloring Books: Sometimes it is fun to relax and color in a coloring book. As a new pharmacist, it may be helpful if that coloring book helps you stay sharp when it comes to your antibiotic or top 200 drugs knowledge. I love Memory Pharm’s coloring books that are not only fun to color, but also continue to keep my drug knowledge up to par.
Pyrls: This app or desktop extension offers pharmacotherapy reviews, top drug summaries as well as charts and tables that help you find drug information fast. The benefits of Pyrls goes beyond studying and easily extends to pharmacy practice when you are looking to answer difficult drug information questions.
Sanford Guide: The Sanford Guide prides themselves in being the “most trusted name in the treatment of infectious disease” and it’s true. They have been making antimicrobial stewardship resources since 1969 and, as pharmacists, proper use of antibiotics is always something we can stand behind. You can get access to their digital subscriptions or print guides to help you answer those antibiotic questions with ease.
UpToDate: Is UpToDate the best resources out there? No, but it is a good place to start when you don’t know where else to go. It was often my go-to starting place when a provider would ask me a question about a disease state I hadn’t learned about before. After better understanding the background of the disease state, I could then take a deeper dive into the question I was asked. UpToDate likely won’t solve all your problems but it can lay the groundwork to get you closer to your answer.
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