As a healthcare provider, you know both the importance and difficulty of educating patients about proper medication use. But by providing up-to-date electronic drug information in language that's easy to understand, First DataBank can help you inform and council your patients effectively.

Our in-depth patient education materials are an excellent resource for your patients and their families when they have questions about their medications. Effective patient education not only encourages compliance, it also helps assure excellent care and reduces the costs associated with medication usage errors.

Our Patient Education Module is a critical component of our drug databases that support consumers. It provides authoritative content in everyday consumer language. This extensive collection of monographs has been in use since 1986 by very discerning critics—the pharmacists and point-of-care professionals who rely on this information to support their efforts to educate patients.

With our extensive coverage, you can be confident that the drug information you require will always be available when you need it. The module currently contains several thousand drug monographs, covering nearly 100,000 packaged products.

In addition, it features alternative-therapy monographs that meet the growing demand for reliable information on herbals, nutraceuticals and dietary supplements. Whether visiting their doctor or consulting with their pharmacist, patients always appreciate a printed document to supplement the advice they get from their caregivers. Monographs are available in English, Spanish and French.

You can rest assured that our patient-education materials measure up to the same content standards as our drug information for professionals. The experienced clinical pharmacists who prepare our monographs for patients understand the importance of adhering to strict editorial policies.  Our attention to quality directly benefits our customers. As a healthcare professional, you can be certain that the patient information you dispense complements the quality of your care.

Instructions are easy to understand, without compromising the appropriateness of clinical information. Clearly labeled sections on warnings, uses, side effects, precautions  and much more make it easy to learn the essentials of the patient's drug therapy. And healthcare professionals appreciate the fact that our patient-education monographs were developed to meet the criteria set forth in the Action Plan for the Provision of Useful Prescription Medicine (Keystone Guidelines). To meet these guidelines, First DataBank covers important information in manufacturer labeling—such as black box warnings, overdose and other uses.

First DataBank's XML version allows developers to implement the Patient Education Module more easily, in a visually striking format that's easy to read. The module offers a choice of three XSL style sheets, to ensure that a monograph's content is rendered on-screen with consistency and maximum impact.