Drug Information Services
Why do over 2500 pharmacies subscribe to DIRC? For a single annual fee, they gain access
to drug information expertise that’s relevant to their practice. Serving both community as well as hospital pharmacies, a DIRC subscription offers a number of benefits that help health professionals provide better care to their patients. Subscribers gain access to a team of specially trained and skilled pharmacists that help them get back to their primary role – providing care for their patients. DIRC offers the following services as part of a subscription:
Call Centre
One source for all of your drug information needs. DIRC staff provide current, comprehensive, and factual drug information on request in a timely manner. We meet the standards established by the Ontario College of Pharmacists for drug information services. Subscribers have access to pharmacists via phone, fax, email, mail, or in person. An urgent line puts you to the front of the queue for immediate requests. Or forward queries by fax or email and receive responses in the format you prefer.
Our call centre is open 8:30am-5pm, Monday through Friday, EST. Messages received after business hours are responded to the following business day.
Publications
Our quarterly publication, Quick Facts, is an invaluable aid that is developed to assist pharmacists and other health professionals with the current questions being faced in practice. DIRC summarizes the best evidence on a particular topic and organizes it so it is immediately available and accessible View a sample Quick Facts here.
Our bimonthly publication, New Drugs/Drug News, is distributed to all Ontario pharmacists by the Ontario College of Pharmacists in its journal, Pharmacy Connection. DIRC subscribers receive electronic copies immediately upon publication.
Web Access
DIRC publishes articles in several other publications as well as special web-only publications on hot topics of interest. A DIRC subscription gives all staff at your organization full access to the contents of this website. Through the website you can download past copies of our publications or download the most helpful documents directly to your Palm or PDA.
eDIRC bulletin
eDIRC is a bi-weekly bulletin detailing the most relevant new drug information to help you in your practice. Formerly restricted to DIRC subscribers, eDIRC is FREE- that is, you don’t have to be a DIRC subscriber to benefit from this service. Subscribe to eDIRC here.
Each edition of eDIRC contains:
- Links to new articles by DIRC pharmacists (DIRC subscription may be required to download articles).
- Exclusive web-only content prepared by DIRC pharmacists, including summaries of the latest medical news or product advisories.
- Links to Health Canada’s health professionals.
- Links to new articles of interest prepared by other organizations (e.g. Canadian Family Physician, Motherisk, etc.)
Fax on demand service
For our clients without web access, DIRC maintains a 24-hour telephone fax on-demand service on topics of immediate interest. This service is accessible through the call centre phone lines.