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Pharmaceutical knowledge: when, where needed by Paula Kitendaugh National Library of Medicine Fellow Television, radio, and magazine advertisements bombard consumers with drug names such as Xenical, Claritin, Viagra, and Zocor. These new drugs are marketed directly at patients and their health care providers.  As a practitioner, you need to know if these new drugs have been approved by the FDA, what side effects may occur, and any pertinent contraindications.  Where can you find high quality, full-text information to answer these questions?  MICROMEDEX, the health care profession’s standard for knowledge base information systems, answers all these questions quickly and easily with its new web-accessible MICROMEDEX Healthcare Series.  As of Dec. 1, MICROMEDEX is available via the MUSC Library Web.  For those users who were underwhelmed by the previously available version of MICROMEDEX, with its no-frills, Telnet interface, it’s time to try it again. The intranet MICROMEDEX Heathcare Series offers quality full-text drug information with the ease and convenience you’ve come to expect from Web-based resources.  “The information on MICROMEDEX was always useful, but now I can find drug information more quickly,” Deborah Carson, Pharm.D., professor of pharmacy pactice, said.   The databases available via MUSC’s MICROMEDEX link include many familiar names synonymous with quality pharmacological information.  Two well-known resources for comprehensive drug monographs are available: MARTINDALE’s, providing international coverage for prescription drugs, and the Physicians’ Desk Reference (PDR), which covers prescription and over-the-counter medications.  For quick overview information on dosing, side effects, contraindications or a list of trade names, consult the Summary Documents database. The DRUGDEX System, another drug information resource for healthcare professionals, offers a wider range of information on drug therapies and clinical applications. Other specialized tools in the MICROMEDEX suite, include the POISINDEX System, used to identify and treat exposure to household, biological, and pharmaceutical substances. The REPRORISK System compiles reproductive risk information on environmental, pharmaceutical, and chemical agents. Finally, there is the Index Nominum with synonyms, formulas, therapeutic classes, and trademarks for thousands of international drugs and derivatives. In addition to the professional tools available, MICROMEDEX has a proprietary “Patient Education” section, CareNotes, consisting of patient education documents and drug leaflets written at a low-reading level, often in Spanish, as well as English.  Your options for searching MICROMEDEX have also multiplied.  Search by category or by database to limit your query to particular sections of the database, or use the “Integrated Index” feature to simultaneously search all available databases. To use the Integrated Index, the default search option, enter the drug’s generic or trade name into the search box and click on the search button. To get started with MICROMEDEX, use your MUSC Network Account login and password. From the MUSC Library’s drug information button at <http://www.library.musc.edu/Druginformation.html>, select MICROMEDEX.  For information about MICROMEDEX, call the library at 792-2372, or visit the MICROMEDEX main menu and go to the “Learning Center” for an on-line tutorial.