Computerized pharmacy surveillance and alert system for drug-related problems

Area of Science:

• * Clinical Informatics
• * Pharmaceutical Sciences
• * Patient Safety

Background:

• * Drug-related problems (DRPs) significantly contribute to morbidity and mortality.
• * Computerized strategies are needed to enhance drug safety.
• * Existing clinical decision support systems for drug monitoring have limitations in scope and alert types.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To describe the implementation of a pharmacy warning system (PWS) integrated within an electronic medical record (EMR).
• * To assess the PWS's ability to detect potential DRPs during routine inpatient drug therapy validation.

Main Methods:

• * Development of a PWS incorporating demographic data, drug dosage, laboratory results, and drug combination information (interactions, duplications).
• * Application of the PWS in prescription reviews for hospitalized patients in 2012.
• * Information from 83% of the hospital's pharmacopeia was entered into the PWS.

Main Results:

• * The PWS detected 2808 potential DRPs, representing 79.1% of all DRPs identified during the study period.
• * Twenty percent of detected DRPs were clinically relevant and required pharmacist intervention.
• * The system demonstrated a high detection rate for potential DRPs.

Conclusions:

• * The implemented PWS significantly enhances inpatient safety by detecting a majority of potential DRPs.
• * The PWS exhibits a superior detection capability compared to other tools previously reported in the literature.
• * Integration of PWS into EMR systems is a valuable strategy for improving drug safety.