Monday September 20, 1999 - Question 3

A friend of yours is a nurse practitioner.  He calls and asks if a drug interaction exists between a new medication that has been on the market for 6 months and methotrexate.  Your friend already mentioned that he checked DrugDex® and the package insert for both medications while at the hospital where he works, but he did not see any interaction listed.  The patient in question appears to have developed side effects related to elevated methotrexate concentrations.  Which of the following is true?

A. If it is not listed in DrugDex® it is unlikely the problem being experienced is secondary to a drug interaction

B. Hansten’s Drug Interactions would have the same information as DrugDex® so that reference does not have to be checked

C. One could call the manufacturer of both medications to see if any data (published or non published) or similar cases have been reported to them

D. Facts and Comparison’s Drug Interactions Facts would have the same information as DrugDex® so that reference does not have to be checked

E. One could call a pharmacy and have them check their references because pharmacies have dug interaction references generally not available to poison centers.
 

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