Drug Information Centre (AIZ)
Tasks and goals
The Drug Information Centre provides doctors and nurses with independent, professionally evaluated information on medicines.
In addition to questions about the availability or use of a drug, the drug information covers clinical questions that serve to optimise the drug therapy of a patient or a patient group and can therefore offer doctors and nursing staff decisive help. The provision of neutral, comprehensive and reference-backed information can also reduce therapy costs and relieve doctors of time-consuming research.
Range of information
The information that can be obtained from the AIZ includes, for example
- Selection of suitable medicines, alternative preparations
- Composition, indications, contraindications
- Side effects, interactions
- Dose adjustment for renal insufficiency
- pharmacology
- Foreign medicinal products, authorisation status
- Crushability/probe compatibility
- Shelf life, miscibility of medicinal products
- intravenous compatibilities
- Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data
- Research on clinical studies and publications
Documentation
Adverse drug reactions observed in the clinic and forwarded to the AIZ are documented and reported to the relevant bodies (BfArM, Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, industry, etc.). In addition to various specialist journals, we have a well-stocked library of medical, pharmaceutical and scientific literature at our disposal to answer questions. We work with various databases, such as Micromedex, Pharminfo, Medline, Stockleys, DIMDI, ABDA database, etc. Detailed specialised and standard information is available for most preparations or can be obtained from us.
The enquiries are documented in an internet-based, nationwide database so that they can be accessed for future enquiries and faster processing is possible.
Further training and education
Many years of experience, continuous further and advanced training and contacts with other drug information centres in Germany and abroad contribute to the quality of the information. The Drug Information Centre is a training centre for pharmacists specialising in drug information.
Regional Drug Information Centre (RAIZ)
As a member of the Regional Drug Information Centres (RAIZ) in Baden-Württemberg, public pharmacies and doctors in private practice also have the opportunity to use the information provided by our AIZ.
You can reach us at: raiz(at)med.uni-heidelberg.de