Pharmacy.
Medicines information.

Where to find medicines information

A pharmacy enquiry begins by identifying what you need to know: information about a particular medicine, the basis of a mechanism or research findings. These questions call for different sources.

CIMA, provided by AEMPS, supports searches by medicine or active ingredient and access to authorised documentation. The medicines for human use portal also links to regulatory and pharmacovigilance information. These are starting points for checking documents, not substitutes for individual assessment.

Product information, leaflet or textbook?

• Summary of product characteristics: information for professionals. Identify the exact medicine and presentation when consulting it.
• Patient leaflet: information for the person using the medicine. Do not treat it as a summary of every product in the same class.
• Pharmacology textbook: a resource for learning concepts and mechanisms. Its educational purpose differs from the regulatory documentation for a product.

A step-by-step literature enquiry

Write down the medicine or active ingredient and the aspect you need to investigate. Locate the relevant record, then check the dosage form and presentation. Save the link and access date, particularly when using the information in academic work.

For an interaction or a comparison of interventions, separate product documentation from research findings. Note the population studied in each publication and retain the context of its conclusions. Do not use an isolated reading to change a treatment.

Choosing pharmacy reading material

For learning, compare contents, clarity of diagrams, references and edition. For a specific enquiry, favour a source that lets you identify the original document. Undated screenshots and disconnected excerpts make verification difficult.

Keep four fields in your notes: question, source, document and date. To distinguish a study from a review, continue to medical publications and critical reading.