First impressions of the new-look MIMS

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2006. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

When asked whether I would give my impressions of the new MIMS, I wasn’t sure whether to admit that I don’t like the old one and rarely use it. I did, and was told I would be perfect, because if I was convinced others would be too. Having talked to lots of friends, they don’t use it either, so it is no surprise that the publishers have decided to update it and relaunch it with a whole new look.

My first memory of MIMS, which has been around since 1959, was attending my GP as a teenager with acne, having developed a banging headache on Roaccutane. He looked it up in MIMS and told me that cerebral oedema was a listed side effect and that it had been a good idea to stop it. Years later, on the wards as a junior doctor, I only ever used the BNF.

When I started as a GP registrar I had a choice again. I remember flicking through it one lunchtime, and I wasn’t impressed: the text seemed messy, there were adverts everywhere, drugs were listed by brand name and I could never work out what the dose was meant to be. It was a shame, as although as an ex-medic I knew medical drugs well, other specialities were foreign. I remember telling my trainer I was going to prescribe Locorten-Vioform over its alternatives because I liked the name and could not find any evidence to help select which to use. A book on drugs tailored for the GP was what I needed.

The reason I do currently have one on my shelf is that the new drugs section is useful and regularly updated, and I like some of the tables. My favourite is the additives in emollients chart, which I have shown to hundreds of patients to give them a better understanding of the treatment of their skin disease.

The good news is the bits I like are being kept. There will be an editorial at the front of each issue which will cover new drugs and guidelines. It will still have over 20 tables covering a range of conditions such as COPD, diabetes, HRT, contraception, hyperlipidaemia and dermatological products.

It is fascinating how design can change the feel of a magazine. The magazine is being given a more legible typeface, with use of colour and bolding to highlight sections. Each drug name is listed in one colour; section names such as contraindications are in another. It could be a garish clash, but the pages I have seen look great, and it means less time to look up the info you need.

There has also been a whole rethink over the way it works. One of my complaints was that you could never find anything quickly. The new index is split into logical therapeutic areas which are listed alphabetically. Currently allergic disorders is section 14; it becomes number 1.

Each subsection now represents just one disease area. For example, neurodegenerative diseases has been split into MS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease, so again you can find the bit you are looking for faster.

Drugs are now being grouped by therapeutic class and displayed under their generic name. For example, go to hypertension, then ACE inhibitors, and you find all the brands listed under their generic equivalent. This is much more the way I work and will make me feel happier with it as a source of information. I hope the proposed clinical reviews will help choose between drugs on an evidence-based medicine approach.

For simplicity, key information, for example interactions, is listed once under the generic name, with only brand-specific information such as dose, pack size and formulation under each drug.

You will also find boxed advice on NICE and other guidelines in the relevant section. Our new registrar, who has his MRCP and wasn’t sure how to diagnose hypertension as he had never had to do it in hospital, will no doubt find the one-page summary interesting to read one lunchtime, and it will save him a lot of time looking at other sources of information.

Overall I am very impressed with the useful changes in structure, layout and design. I will definitely be keeping a copy close at hand and take one on visits with me, where the new palliative care section will no doubt come in useful.