Planning document
From Pubdrug
Contents |
What is PubDrug?
PubDrug is an open access, peer-reviewed, copyright- and royalty-free drug information database intended for the use of pharmacists and other health professionals. PubDrug is being developed as a wiki, making it possible to harness expertise from anyone connected to Internet. However, PubDrug also provides editorial guidelines and fact-checking procedures to keep its drug information as error-free as possible.
Why do we need PubDrug?
Traditionally, in depth, comprehensive, third-party drug information has been made available in publications or databases that must be purchased or licensed for use. This has tended to restrict access to this kind of drug information to those libraries or healthcare providers that can afford the purchase or licensing costs. Many pharmacists and other health professionals, particularly those in low-income communities, have had to make do with whatever information they can quickly gather from free resources on the Web, which rarely includes much more than what is available as part of a prescription drug insert. Drug manufacturers have often withheld adverse research findings from the FDA, increasing the need for third-party, peer-reviewed drug information that is free from potential bias. Some free drug information is available online, but this information is scattered across unrelated Websites and is rarely at the depth required for clinical and research work.
Since, at least initially, PubDrug will be developed with the help of faculty, students and residents in schools of pharmacy, the database and wiki tools for creating and editing these drug information resources can serve as an important additional educational resource for the participating schools. The content development and drug information resource design process by Pharm.D. students and residents will be assessed by faculty. Thus, these activities will contribute to the general information literacy and pharmacotherapy informatics education process for students in these schools. Students in these schools may also be evaluated on their ability to meet information literacy and informatics guidelines as established by national organizations such the Association of College and Research Libraries and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Pharm.D. students who contribute to PubDrug will also be building a comprehensive drug information resource that they can continue to use and to which they can contribute throughout their professional careers.
Why should PubDrug be built on a wiki?
The wiki platform allows unlimited numbers of content providers and editors to collaborate worldwide and to easily add or update these drug information resources. This will further strengthen PubDrug by facilitating collaboration among the participating schools of pharmacy, their faculty, students and librarians. Wiki syntax and design also provides developers with significant editorial controls without inhibiting “viral” expansion of content, meaning that authoritative database content can be added and edited quickly and easily, by students and faculty, with only a minimum of technical training.
PubDrug vision statement
PubDrug will strive to be the most comprehensive and accurate drug information resource in the world. PubDrug will be made available, free of charge, to anyone who needs drug information. The core PubDrug database will be available in several languages to support international use, and will be standards-compliant to allow its drug information and data to be integrated with other health information systems, including electronic medical record systems, hospital formularies, and drug inventory systems.
The following is a preliminary four-year plan outline to achieve this vision:
2007
- Recruit and train an editorial board (school of pharmacy faculty, medical librarians)
- Recruit and train content providers (Pharm.D. students and residents, primarily)
- Develop baseline editorial standards and practices
- Complete comprehensive drug information records for the top 200 prescription drugs in the United States
2008
- Recruit at least three additional schools of pharmacy (and their faculty, students and librarians)
- Employ a wiki developer to optimize the PubDrug platform and to ensure data security
- Integrate a standards-compliant drug taxonomy to ensure the portability of drug data
- Develop a system for the routine updating of drug information resources
- Expand the drug information record set to 500 prescription drugs
2009
- Expand program to include no fewer than ten schools of pharmacy, including one non-U.S. school
- Begin developing the first non-English version of the database
- Continue optimizing the PubDrug platform for content contributors and editors
- Expand drug information record set to 1500 prescription drugs
- Begin adding non-prescription medications, as well as herbals and traditionals.
2010
- Maintain a continuous and ongoing process for recruiting additional schools of pharmacy
- Expand program to include at least 20 U.S. schools of pharmacy, and 5 non-U.S. schools
- Transition PubDrug funding to the participating schools of pharmacy as an educational initiative
- Mirror the database at the National Library of Medicine to reduce costs and insure access
- Develop additional non-English versions of the PubDrug database
- Expand drug information record set to over 2500 major medications, herbals and traditionals
- Maintain a process for routinely updating records and adding additional drugs
PubDrug funding sources
Grants and/or contributions from participating schools of pharmacy will be needed, initially, to support the following key PubDrug operations:
- Technical operations, including Web hosting, data storage and retrieval, accessibility, bandwidth, etc.
- Recruiting and hiring a wiki programmer/developer to oversee technical aspects of the wiki and database, including data format standards, portability, and security, as well as customized search features and editorial tools optimized for PubDrug.
- Streamlining monograph templates and other system features to speed drug monograph content development.
- Integrating standard drug nomenclature(s) into PubDrug (RxNorm, others?)
- Developing and implementing output standards for data portability (for use on PDAs and in EMR systems, etc.)
- Recruiting schools of pharmacy and their faculty, students, and librarians for the PubDrug initiative, providing initial training and ongoing communications between these content providers and editors.
- Legal consultation services to protect PubDrug against potential liabilities, including misinformation, plagiarism, etc.
- Developing editorial practices and standards through meetings of the editors and an advisory board
- General marketing and promotion of PubDrug to potential user groups and organizations
- Developing collaborative relationships with other drug and clinical information providers
PubDrug will also need to develop ongoing sources of income to support its operations. These will likely include moderate annual fees from participating schools of pharmacy. These schools will want to continue their participation in PubDrug for many reasons:
- PubDrug will continue to serve as an important educational resource for their students
- The PubDrug database will continue to provide their faculty with unique opportunities for scholarship and professional development
- As an increasingly comprehensive drug information resource PubDrug will be less expensive than subscribing to, or licensing access to, commercial drug information products
- These schools will benefit from the prestige of leading in the development of this comprehensive, international drug information resource
PubDrug may also develop additional sources of income, such as annual user fees from non-affiliated individuals or organizations wishing to be certified to create and edit drug information records.
PubDrug editorial practices
All PubDrug records and ancillary tables (drug interactions, etc.) will undergo a rigorous certification process. Certification will be a peer-review process by which another content developer and a member of the editorial board assume responsibility for certifying the accuracy and completeness of the drug information record. Professional pharmaceutical expertise, routine fact-checking, reference-checking, and editorial style guidelines will facilitate this process.
Following initial certification, monographs and other records will be “locked down” and protected from further editing before being opened for public access via the PubDrug wiki. Only editorial board members will be allowed to “unlock” records for updates and additional editing. All such edited records must be re-certified before they can be protected and opened for public access again.
Certification of records will assure the accuracy, comprehensiveness, and security of the information in the PubDrug database. All contributors and editors will be identified by name, and all editing histories for wiki pages will be open for viewing, keeping the editorial process as transparent as possible. The wiki Website tools will facilitate feedback and correction suggestions from any individual or organization using PubDrug.
