INTRODUCTION TO DRUG INFORMATION & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM: Computer application in Pharmacy

DRUG INFORMATION STORAGE & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE

It is like a storage room where paper records are kept. It can also refer to a storage device such as computer, hard disk, CD, DVD or similar device which can hold data.

Types of storage devices-

1. Hard disk 
2. Floppy disk
3. CD and DVD
4. USB flash drive

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

Defination: Information retrieval system is a system used to store information that can be processed, searched, retrieved and unfolded to various user population.

Various components of Information retrieval system:

1. Database 
2. Search engine
3. Language 
4. Interface

DATABASE

A database is an organized collection of data, which generally is stored and accessed electronically from a computer system.

SEARCH ENGINE

The information which are organised systematically can be searched or retrieved only when a proper search engine/ mechanism is provided. Search engine can be categorised into Basic engine and Advance engine. These search procedure determines the capacity i.e. what retrieval techniques will be available to users and depending on that how information stored in database can be retrieved.

Basic: Keyword searching is what most people are familiar with. It is what most people do when they search for something in Google or Bing or even a library catalog. Keyword searching is basically entering a few important terms into the search box and allowing the search engine to find all items that contain all of those terms. In a general search engine this will result in millions of results.

Advance: A set of fixed words, AND, NOT, and OR, that are used in most search engines. These words have specific functions in the search process. The easiest to describe is OR. OR expands the results list. The search engine is looking for either topic. In a way it is committing 2 searches, but putting the results in one list. AND, on the other hand, is used to narrow the results. When AND is placed between both words the search engine is looking for all occurrences where BOTH terms are present in the same page. So, if a website only has one of the terms, it will not be listed in the results page. The other fixed term is NOT. NOT simply removes pages that have that term. So, the search engine will find all occurrences of the term, but then remove those that have the second term, the term listed after NOT.

LANGUAGE

Information relies on language when being processed, transferred or communicated. 

Languages used can of two types:

Natural language- These languages can be easily understood or created by any user like tags, keywords are.

Controlled language- Controlled languages are such vocabulary languages that are typically created and maintained by a particular organisation.

INTERFACE

It is concerned with whether or not an information retrieval system is user friendly. The quality of interface is checked by interaction mode. It determiners the success of the information retrieval system.

TYPE OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

• Online system: Online information retrieval systems allow the user to collect database located remotely by using any computer or telecommunication technology.

e.g.: university of Punjab Library

• CD-ROM system:  CD-ROM  system are usually searched locally. It is useful for basic information retrieval. These data can be read by any computer or CD-ROM drive.

e.g.: LISA (library and information science Abstracts)

• OPAC system: Online public Access catalogs are traditionally online database of material held by a library or group of libraries. Users search in these library catalog to locate books and other materials available at a library.

e.g.: Danbury Public Library

• Web Information Retrieval System: It deals with text as well as multimedia information resources. It is a platform where anyone from anywhere can public any information in any language or in any format.

e.g.: Google

INTRODUCTION TO DRUG INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

Complete search of drug details is necessary for clinical pharmacist to satisfy queries about pharmacology. This job of searching is made easy by computer system.

In 1964, National Library of Medicine (NLM) created a computerized medical information system known as MEDLARS (medical literature analysis and retrieval system).

Many more of such computerized drug information retrieval systems were then developed as such MEDLINE, TOXICOLOGY DATA BOOK, INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL ABSTRACTS, BIOSIS MICROMEDEX, PHARMACEUTICAL NEWS INDEX, DRUG BANK etc.

DRUG DATABASE

A drug database is drug formulary file which consists of simple databases of drugs, it’s strength, various dosage forms, route of administration, dose frequencies and other such fields. The drug databases are the sites where information about drugs and medications can be stored and retrieved. And one of the largest and most commonly used drug database is complied by FOOD and DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA).

ADVANTAGES OF DRUG INFORMATION SYSTEM

1. Time saving 
2. Convenient for use 
3. Provides scope for detailed and timely search, compared to manual search
4. Pleasant and satisfacting