Citing Online Drug Resources

 

by Cindy Schmidt, M.D., M.L.S

Created 07/2014

Updated 07/2015

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Instructions:

Use the "Arrow" icons below the instruction screen to go forwards and backwards in the tutorial.

If you want to skip between distant parts of the tutorial, you can use the "Menu/Contents" button above the instruction screen  to show the tutorial's "Table of Contents" and can click on the needed section of the tutorial.

Clicking the "Single-page view" will produce a transcript of the entire tutorial.

Objectives:

During your career, you will often refer to online, drug information resources. At times, you will have to cite these resources formally.

After completing this tutorial, you will have 

• found the information needed to cite an online package insert obtained from Daily Med
• found the information needed to cite a Major, Online Drug Information Resource
• created AMA 10th edition style bibliographic entries for an online PPI and a major, online, drug information resource
• If you are completing this tutorial as part of PHPR 562, you should save the bibliographic entries you create for use during your RefWorks lab and in your monograph assignment.

For the purposes of the tutorial, the  requirements of the AMA 10th edition style will be discussed.  Most citation styles require the same information or less information.

Search DailyMed for Your PPI

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DailyMed is a government-sponsored package insert database.   The DailyMed homepage is seen on the right side of this browser window.  

Search for the drug of interest to you to find a relevant PPI.  

During this tutorial, I will use montelukast as an example of a drug that might be of interest. If you are enrolled in PHPR 562, Intro to DI, you should search for the drug you signed up for as the topic of your monograph assignment (not for montelukast, not for dasatinib -- unless you signed up for one of those drugs).

Search DailyMed for Your PPI

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If your drug is available in generic form, more than one result will be retrieved.  You could choose either one of the generic preparations or a brand name preparation (in the case of montelukast, the brand name is Singulair).

Click on the PPI for a form of the drug (tablet, granule, solution) that you would like to discuss.   If I want to provide information about montelukast tablets,  I might use the PPI for montelukast sodium tablets from Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited.

AMA 10th Format for an Online PPI

The template for an AMA 10th-formatted bibliographic entry  for an online package insert is:

Title [package insert]. City of packager/repackager, State of packager/repackager/publisher: Name of packager/repackager/publisher. web address. Published month year. Accessed month date, year.

Open a Word document. Copy the bibliographic entry template above and paste it into your Word document. As you work your way through the tutorial, you will replace each place holder in the template with the corresponding information from your PPI.

You will end up with something similar to the bibliographic entry for the Montelukast Sodium PPI below (created in July 2015).  The parts of the template that remain have been bold-faced. 

MONTELUKAST SODIUM -- montelukast sodium tablet [package insert]. Kalamazoo, MI: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited. http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b5f0e397-55f7-47c0-b1d4-377ce48dd9a3#. Published August 2012. Accessed July 9, 2015.

You can see that the only parts of the template that remain are:

[package insert].  :  .   . Published   . Accessed , .

 

PPI title, publisher, web address

Three of the needed pieces of information are at the top of the PPI in Daily Med

• The title is at the top of the PPI (see red box in figure above).  The name of the drug is often repeated in the official PPI title.
• The packager or repackager taking publishing responsibility for the PPI is shown below the title (see green box in the figure above)
• A permanent link to the PPI can be obtained by right-clicking the "VIEW ALL SECTIONS" link and selecting the "copy link location" (or other similar) option.

Substitute this information into the template:

Title [package insert]. City of packager/repackager, State of packager/repackager/publisher: Name of packager/repackager/publisher. web address. Published Month year. Accessed Month date, year.

for the montelukast PPI shown in the tutorial screenshots this would look like:

MONTELUKAST SODIUM -- montelukast sodium tablet [package insert].  City of packager/repackager, State of packager/repackager/publisher: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited.  http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b5f0e397-55f7-47c0-b1d4-377ce48dd9a3#.  Published Month year. Accessed Month date, year.

 

The bold-face is used only so you can see the substitutions. You should not use bold-face.

PPI Publication Date

Click on the "View all Sections" link.

To find the publication date or date of the last revision, scroll to a point near the bottom of the PPI.  The date is usually shown above the "PACKAGE LABEL.PRINCIPAL DISPLAY PANEL" section that contains a photo of the package label.

 

Next, add the date of your work on this tutorial as the "accessed date".  I first updated this tutorial on July 9, 2015 so I'll use that date in the tutorial example.  

tutorial example:

MONTELUKAST SODIUM -- montelukast sodium tablet [package insert]. City of packager/repackager, State of packager/repackager/publisher: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited. http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b5f0e397-55f7-47c0-b1d4-377ce48dd9a3#. Published August 2012. Accessed July 9, 2015.

PPI Packager/Publisher Location

The last piece of information you need is the city and state where the packager/repackager/publisher is located.  This can usually be found in the photo of the package label.

Scroll up and down in the PPI until you find a picture of the package.  The packager's address is usually printed close to the picture.  If not, you can usually enlarge the picture of the package so that you can see the location printed on the package.

Add the packager's location to your citation.  Do not include the street address or the zip code.  Just include the city and state or, if it's a foreign city, the city and country.

tutorial example:

MONTELUKAST SODIUM -- montelukast sodium tablet [package insert]. Kalamazoo, MI: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited. http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b5f0e397-55f7-47c0-b1d4-377ce48dd9a3#. Published August 2012. Accessed July 9, 2015.

You now have a complete citation for an online PPI. 

Remember the bold-face in the example is just present to show you where to put that last piece of information.  Do not bold-face any information in your citation. 

Next Step for PHPR 562, Intro to Drug Info Students

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If you are working on this tutorial as part of PHPR 562 (Introduction to Drug Information);  select the  online drug information resource you plan to use as a source for your monograph project now (It's fine if you, later, change your mind and wish to use a different source for your monograph assignment.  In that case, you will just have to create a new bibliography entry). 

You can use either:

1.  LexiDrugs

2.  Pediatric and Neonatal LexiDrugs

3.  Geriatric LexiDrugs

4.  Clinical Pharmacology

5.  AHFS Drug Information via LexiComp

6.  Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference via LexiComp

Click on the resource you wish to use to go to the tutorial for that resource.

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