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Quadruple-Checkerboard: A Modification of the Three-Dimensional Checkerboard for Studying Drug Combinations
Published on: July 24, 2021
Evaluation of an electronic critical drug interaction program coupled with active pharmacist intervention
Tammy L Humphries1, Nikki Carroll, Elizabeth A Chester
1Pharmacy Department, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Aurora, CO 80011, USA.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
|November 8, 2007
Summary
An electronic critical drug interaction alert program (CDIX) significantly reduced the co-dispensing of dangerous drug combinations. This intervention improved patient safety by decreasing critical drug interactions by 31%.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacovigilance
- Health Informatics
- Clinical Pharmacy
Background:
- Suboptimal screening and management of drug interactions can lead to adverse patient outcomes.
- An electronic critical drug interaction alert program (CDIX) was developed to address this issue.
- CDIX combined electronic screening with active pharmacist intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the CDIX program.
- To assess the impact of CDIX on the co-dispensing of critically interacting drug combinations.
Main Methods:
- A condensed list of 8 critical drug interactions was identified.
- Outpatient pharmacy data were collected for 20 months pre-CDIX and 37 months post-CDIX.
- Interrupted time series analysis was used to assess changes in co-dispensing rates.
Main Results:
- The overall rate of critical drug co-dispensing decreased from 21.3 to 14.7 per 10,000 prescriptions post-CDIX.
- This represents a 31% relative decrease in critical drug interactions.
- Significant reductions were observed for 7 out of 8 drug class combinations.
Conclusions:
- An intervention system focusing on critical drug interactions, coupled with pharmacist intervention and prescriber collaboration, effectively reduces dispensed critical drug interactions.
- This approach enhances patient safety by minimizing the risk of adverse events from drug-drug interactions.
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