Effect of ten specific questions on nationwide drug information center activity.

A survey of drug information centers (DICs) was performed to determine (1) the number of requests received and (2) the amount of manpower used in answering requests for frequently sought information dealing with ten specific topics. A total of 2,968 requests for information on ten topics was received by the 41 DICs, representing 3% of all questions received. The number of requests for information on each topic ranged from 27 to 724, and over half of the DICs received at least one request for information on nine of the ten topics. A total of 1,206 man-hours was used by the DICs to answer requests for information on all topics combined. It is concluded that DICs overlap substantially in the provision of frequently sought information.