National Drug Information Center Services through Ministry of Health Hotline Calling Center (937) in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: National drug information center (NDIC) has started providing services since January 2013, and answering public and professional inquiries through MOH-Hotline Calling Services (937) since December 2013. The objective of this study to explore the analysis of national drug information inquiries by the hotline services in Saudi Arabia. Method: Simulation including all 12-month 2014 of receiving adults and pediatrics drug information inquiries; through MOH-hotline calling services (937). Ten on-call clinical pharmacists and expert trained pharmacists were receiving calls from public and professional asking about drug information, through manual documentation system of drug information inquiries by drug information data collecting form. Results: The total number answered calls were 976 calls through the entire study period. Of them, 264 (27%) calls were documented. The question most asked was on dose standardization (27%) followed by drug Administration (15.3%). Medications were the most asked about (83.3%). Antibacterial was the most frequent question (19.80%) followed by Vitamins and supplements (11.68%) then antidiabetic by (4.87%). Conclusion: National drug information center was providing new first-time hotline services by answering drug information inquiries from professional and public. Targeting to educate professional and public about drug therapy of common diseases will decrease drug related problems. Expanding drug information hotline services with electronic documentation, expansion of clinical pharmacist with advanced training will improve patient outcomes and avoid the unnecessary cost.