Regional Medicines Information Centres (RELIS) ( no, Regionale legemiddelinformasjonssentre) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

ly funded information service about

medical drug A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an imp ...

s for

health professional A health professional, healthcare professional, or healthcare worker (sometimes abbreviated HCW) is a provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience. The field includes those who work as a nurse, physician (suc ...

s in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. RELIS was established to aid rational and proper medicines use through producer-independent drug information to health professionals. RELIS started its service at two centres in 1995, and has since 2001 been established at

university hospital A university hospital is an institution which combines the services of a hospital with the education of medical students and with medical research. These hospitals are typically affiliated with a medical school or university. The following is a l ...

s in all four health regions of Norway. All the centres are tied to the

clinical pharmacology Clinical pharmacology has been defined as "that discipline that teaches, does research, frames policy, gives information and advice about the actions and proper uses of medicines in humans and implements that knowledge in clinical practice". Clinic ...

departments at the university hospitals. RELIS has a question-answer service which aids health professionals in matters of medical drugs, often specific to an individual

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

. The target group and users of the service is primarily

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s, but also

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

s and

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...

use the service. RELIS is also responsible for an information service aided at pregnant and breastfeeding women called Trygg Mammamedisin ('Safe Mommy Medicine'). This service is accessible through its own website, and also by phone. It is open to the public and is confidential and free of charge. Another important role for RELIS is pharmacovigilance. RELIS receives adverse side effect alerts submitted by health professionals, and RELIS then judges the course and causalities of each case, and sends a written reply to the person who submitted the message. The adverse side effect reports are then registered in a national adverse side effect database, in close cooperation with the

Norwegian Medicines Agency The Norwegian Medicines Agency (''Statens legemiddelverk'', ''Legemiddelverket'') is the national, regulatory authority for new and existing medicines and the supply chain. The Agency is responsible for supervising the production, trials and market ...

. RELIS is financed by the

Ministry of Health and Care Services The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services (''Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet'') is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of health policy, public health, health care services, and health legislation in Norway. It is led by the Mini ...

External links

www.relis.no
- RELIS' home page for health professionals (Norwegian)
www.tryggmammamedisin.no
- RELIS' information service for pregnant and breast feeding women (Norwegian) {{authority control Pharmacy in Norway Medical and health organisations based in Norway Government agencies of Norway 1995 establishments in Norway