Description

The Medicines Information Centre (MIC) isaDrug Information Service for Health Professionals providedbyspecially trained pharmacists. It is an independentorganisationsituated in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology,Department ofMedicine at the University of Cape Town’s Faculty ofHealthSciences. This service is limited to health professionalsonly.

The MIC is dedicated to providing unbiased, up-to-dateandwell-researched drug information, in consultation withamultidisciplinary healthcare team. To ensure this, we haveaccessto the latest information databases as well as to consultantsfromthe University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences andGrooteSchuur Hospital. In order to sustain a service of thehigheststandard, complicated queries are discussed at regular peerreviewmeetings.

Our mission statement

To research and provide information and expert assistance onallmatters pertaining to the rational use of medicines inSouthernAfrica, thereby promoting the health of its people.

The services we offer

Drug Information in Response to Queries fromHealthProfessionals

The Medicines Information Centre provides informationontelephonic, faxed or e-mailed queries relating to:

Drug Therapy
Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation
Malaria Prophylaxis and Treatment
Drugs in Porphyria
Adverse Drug Reactions
Pharmaceutics
Pharmacology
Availability of South African and overseas medicines
Drug Interactions
Psychopharmacology
Pharmacokinetics

Teaching and Education

Education of health care professionals by disseminationofmonthly newsletters via e-mail and on the website
Presentation of Clinical Pharmacology and AppliedTherapeuticslectures and seminars
Teaching of pharmacist interns and pharmacy and medical studentsinthe provision of drug information

Fee for Service Activities

Reports and literature searches: expert reports andliteraturesearches (hourly rate)
Training: training courses in drug information which are tailoredtothe needs of the person(s) being tutored

Users of our Services

The Medicines Information Centre provides druginformationto:

Health Professionals
The Pharmaceutical Industry
The Medicines Control Council
Public and Private Health Policy Makers
Medical Aid Schemes and Managed Health Care Companies
Academic Health Departments
Private and Public Hospital Administrators

Available Resources

The Medicines Information Centre is dedicated toprovidingunbiased, up-to-date and well researched drug information.Toensure this we use:

Latest editions of reference books
National and international medical and pharmaceuticaljournals
Abstracting journals e.g. Reactions
CD-ROM – Micromedex
Medline
The Cochrane Library
The Internet
Package Inserts
Pharmaceutical Industry
In-house computerised literature database (MIDAS)
Consultants from the University of Cape Town’s Faculty ofHealthSciences and Groote Schuur Hospital
Daily peer review and clinical meetings