A survey of Quebec pharmacists was conducted to determine drug information resources currently available, obtain information on pharmacists' involvement as drug information providers, and determine their perceived drug information needs.Responses were obtained from 665 of 3283 registered pharmacists for a response rate of 20.3 percent. Hospital and community pharmacists represented more than 90 percent of the respondents. The two reference texts most frequently found in community pharmacists' libraries were Compendium of Pharmaceutical Specialties and Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, the latter being available to only 49 percent of the pharmacists. More than 60 percent of the hospital pharmacists had at least 10 of the reference texts listed on our survey instrument.The majority of pharmacists were actively involved in a variety of clinical pharmacy services. Providing drug information to consumers or health professionals was one of the most common activities. Several pharmacists expressed their needs for drug information center (DIC) support in different drug information categories. Information on drug interactions and adverse drug reactions was rated as an important need by 68 and 59.9 percent of the community pharmacists, respectively. The institution of a regional DlC may provide the support system needed by the pharmacists of Quebec. Drug Intell Clin Pharm 1987;21:57-63. KEY WORDS: drug information services, Quebec.THE AVAILABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DELIVERY of up-todate, unbiased drug information to health professionals (and, in turn, to consumers) is a major need within the health-care system. Formalized drug information services were established more than 20 years ago to assist in a more selective and rational approach to drug therapy. I There are currently more than 100 drug information centers (DIC) in the U.S. 2-4 However, several problems associated with the currently established DIC have been recognized, including: (1) lack of full utili-CLAU[}E MAILHOT, Pharm.D., is Assistant Professor, Faculre de pharmacie, zation of services because of unawareness or inconsistent quality; (2) lack of established minimal standards of quality; (3) lack of funding or poor financial planning; and (4) duplication of services provided by each individual center." In addition, up to now, the majority of DIC have been located in hospital pharmacy departments and serve only their own hospital staffs."At the time of the survey, eight regional DIC were operable in Canada, but none of these were located in Quebec." Although we were aware of a few hospital pharmacies involved in drug information services, information on the scope of their activities and type of support provided to other pharmacists had not been published in the pharmaceutical literature.The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine the drug information resources currently available to pharmacists from Quebec; (2) determine their perceived drug information needs; (3) evaluate the type of support a formalized DIC could provide to thes...

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