Healthcare professionals use a variety of drug information sources to fulfill their clinical needs
and medical practice. The aim of present study was to assess the sources of drug information
among hospital’ prescribers and evaluate their prescribing behavior in Saudi hospitals. A
cross-sectional survey was conducted among randomly selected hospital’ prescribers using a
self-administered questionnaire. The response rate to the survey was 64.29%, with a ratio of
76.44% male and 23.56% female. The internet 137(60.89%) and textbooks 86(38.22%) were the
prevalent sources for drug information used. Up-To-Date 107(47.56%), Medscape 105(46.67%)
and FDA 74(32.88%) were the common electronic drug sources used. About 151(67.11%) of
hospital’ prescribers considered the pharmacist as a reliable drug information source. The most
favored drug requests by hospital’ prescribers from the pharmacists were drug alternatives
110(48.89%) followed by drug interactions 94(41.78%), side effects 78(34.67%) and indications
60(26.67%). Therapeutic efficacy 168(74.67%) and drug availability 73(32.44%) were the main
factors contributed to the selection of drugs. This study shows some differences in hospital
prescribers’ perceptions of sources of drug information depending upon their background and
clinical practice. Therefore, knowing appropriate drug information used by hospital’ prescribers
is fundamental for drug efficacy and safety in clinical practice.