When people get prescriptions for medicines, they assume that the product they are taking is going to make them feel better and back to optimal condition, but what about Drug Precautions? 

Recent statistics indicate that medication errors take place during 3.8 million hospital admissions and 3.3 million outpatient visits every year in the U.S.

Moreover, an estimated 7,000 of those incidences result in fatalities.

Now the question arises, who is going to monitor what are the necessary drug precautions to be taken before drug administration according to the patient's condition to avoid such causalities?

Luckily for us, We are living in 21st Century and technology can reduce those risks in a variety of ways. 

In this article, we are going to tell you all the information you need to know about drug precautions in medicine and the latest 5 ways drug information technology is minimizing medicine error.

What are Drug Precautions?

Drug precautions are measures that are taken in advance to prevent something troublesome or dangerous from happening when a drug is administered or a warning about something dangerous that could happen in the future.

Why are Drug Precautions Important?

Drug precautions are important because every medicine has its benefits and side effects. If administered to the wrong person, they can prove fatal.

 Drug Precautions and Interactions in Medicine:

Aspirin:

 Aspirin should not be given to anyone younger than 18 years because of the risk of Reyes Syndrome.

Corticosteroids:

Corticosteroids can lead to type 2 diabetes because they can increase blood glucose levels and insulin resistance.

Compromised renal function can also lead to an increased risk of adverse drug events.

Fluoxetine and Phenelzine:

Interaction of Fluoxetine and Phenelzine can result in a central serotonin syndrome. It is a condition characterized by changes in mental status, aggressive behavior, tachycardia, and ultimately death.

Digoxin and Quinidine:

Devastating results are seen when Digoxin and Quinidine interact. More than 90% of patients present with elevated plasma concentration levels of digoxin. It results in vomiting, diarrhea and ultimately proves fatal.

Sildenafil and Isosorbide Mononitrate:

Sildenafil increases the hypotensive effects of Isosorbide Mononitrate. About 123 deaths have been reported in the US since Sildenafil was made available. The death rate was high in patients with risk factors like obesity, hypertension, and cigarette smoking. It causes a substantial drop in blood pressure.

Spironolactone and Potassium Chloride:

Spironolactone is another drug, if given without precautions can prove fatal. It is a competitive antagonist of mineral corticoids like aldosterone. It can cause hyperkalemia which can lead to cardiac arrest and eventually death due to interaction with potassium chloride. Patients with renal failure are at most risk of developing this condition.

Ciprofloxacin and Theophylline:

Simultaneous administration of ciprofloxacin and theophylline may lead to toxic levels of theophylline. This adverse effect arises because ciprofloxacin inhibits the hepatic metabolism of theophylline by the cytochrome P-450 enzyme. It is a serious fatal condition that presents with symptoms of headache, dizziness, seizures, and hypotension.

Technology in Medicine:

For many years it has been said that the knowledge and application of drug prescription have been limited because health care professionals have been confined to a limited setup and approach. Newly emerging and advanced technologies have made it possible for health care professionals to improve the effectiveness, quality, safety use, and impact of medicines.

A report published by the Institute of Medicine in 2000 focused on problems with the system of care to be more serious and important than with the health care professionals. 

These problems require the essential need of a technology system that reduce the adverse drug risk. The Drug Risk Checking Software by SCHOLZ DATABANK, with over 30 years experience, is the perfect solution for this.

Supporting Effective and Safe Drug Prescription through high powered Drug Information Technology:

Importance of Drug Information Technology:

To minimize medication errors, several types of drug information technologies can be used. Drug information technologies use a drug information system. It is a tool that allows authorized healthcare professionals to access, manage, safeguard and share a patient's medical history. 

It allows the health care professionals to integrate and prescribe medications optimal for patient`s health benefit while necessary drug precaution measures.

SCHOLZ DATABANK`s Powerful and Supportive Drug Technology:

The Drug Risk Checking Software by SCHOLZ DATABANK is a powerful tool for healthcare professionals as well as patients to monitor and check drug to drug interactions, side effects, drug risks, and adverse outcomes. This process facilitates human power and health by improving safe, effective drug therapy and minimizing medicine errors.

Ways Drug Technology is Improving Drug Precautions:

Technology paves a way for us to harness innovative methods to improve the use of medicine and transform pharmacy practice. According to Arthur C. Clarke, `Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic`. 

Following are 5 ways drug technology is improving drug precautions in medicine:

  1. MDDI Technology, Precision in Prescribing Medicine:

  • According to a recent study in Washington, about 67% of serious drug interactions result in an accurate warning from a pharmacy computer system designed to warn off drug interactions. Therefore, it seems like there is a dire need for a substantial technology that can improve precision, MDDI is just the right technology for it. MDDI Technology is based on a model of `Multi Drug-Drug Interactions`. 

  • Drug interactions include a narrow therapeutic dosage range that is correlated with a patient's disease, condition and certain drugs. For example, patients with epilepsy have a higher risk of developing drug interactions as compared to other diseases, so drug precautions should be taken while prescribing medicines. Also, patients with compromised renal function are at a greater risk of developing adverse effects from medications. Therefore, it is the duty of the health care professional to keep in mind the condition of the patient and take necessary precautions while administration of drugs.


  • To assist health care professionals with this task, MDDI technology is provided by the clinical drug risk checking software at SCHOLZ DATABANK. This technology can assess all the possible drug interactions related to a specific medication and involved drugs and suggest a safe drug therapy customized according to the patient's health. This technology makes sense for any patient who is given five or more drugs. 


  1. Easy Prescribing of Drugs:


  • According to James McDonough, `it's a life and death issue. We are losing six persons a day due to prescription drug abuse`.
  • Drug prescription plays a vital role in the health care and disease status of patients meant to recover from it. A summary of the patient`s clinical data must be available at the doctor`s hand to prescribe accurate and beneficial drugs. 
  • The MDDI calculator offered by the drug technology software resolves this issue. It can compute individual assessments while targeting every patient`s age, gender, disease, pharmacokinetics, and existing stage of kidney disease as well as the drugs that are already being administered. 

  • These benefits allow the healthcare professionals to assess the disease status combined with the drug therapy of the patient at one touch. It allows them to prescribe safe therapeutic drugs to the patients and minimizing medicine error while keeping in mind the precautions to be taken.


  1. e2CP-Technology Reduces Medicine Error:


  • Prevention of medication errors has become a top priority worldwide.


  • In the USA, medication errors are estimated to harm at least 1.5 million patients a year with a rate of 400,000 preventable adverse effects.


  • Errors in medical prescription and lack of taking necessary drug precautions can lead to serious health hazards that can be costly to hospitals, health care professionals, patients, and their families. 


  • Prescribing medicine without taking precautions and patient`s health status in mind are common errors that can, in turn, lead to harmful complications. Therefore, the need for a system that provides the side effects, risk factors, and harmful consequences according to the patient`s disease and body status was required. A system that can analyze the impact of complete medication on blood pressure, nervous system, electrolyte balance, liver function, respiration, and kidney function was required.


  • Electronic Express Chromapictography or e2CP Technology is the perfect solution for these problems. SCHOLZ DATABANK drug information software provides the technology that allows the user to know the impact of the complete course of medication on body organs and functions at one glance. Therefore, reducing medication risks and improving the quality status of clinical drug prescription. This technology has just begun and is already showing promising results. It will be optimized more and more in the future according to the needs of users and technical capabilities.


  1. Facilitating and Helping Health Care Professionals:


  • There is an essential need for health care professionals to know and understand which drug interactions can produce which effects in patients according to disease status.


  • It was found in a recent meta-analysis that there is an incidence of 6.7% serious drug interaction side effects in hospitals. It was also found that 28%-56% of these adverse effects are preventable.


  • Clinical decision-making is a complex process that involves the human mind to analyze, memorize, recall and evaluate huge amounts of data, which can cause errors. Our technology system contains all the necessary information, organizes them and presents them to the clinician in a visual way.


  • The software technology is here for the sole purpose of filling this `knowing-doing` gap by presenting the required precautions and information to clinicians at the required time. 


  1. Technology Helps in Patient-Centered Care:


  • So far we have talked about how SCHOLZ DATABANK software technology is helping clinicians but its use is not only limited to clinicians, it provides assistance and benefits to patients as well. 


  • To improve optimal health conditions, it is necessary to encourage patients to take measures and precautions for increasing their compliance and satisfaction. Information technology can have a major impact on improving patient health quality and knowledge about the health status. 


  • Patient safety and quality is a main goal of the organization while building this software. SCHOLZ DATABANK empowers patients from drug risk through up–to–date and easy use of mobile apps.


Technology has become an integral part of medicine today. It is introducing innovative solutions to many healthcare problems. It is helping in improving drug precautions in medicine. 


The right use of advanced and well-developed drug technology can assist in improving healthcare, maintaining optimal quality of life, and minimizing medicine errors.


In the 21st Century, technology is advancing to its highest potential to provide smart and effective solutions. There is a lot of evidence on the benefits drug information technology is providing in reducing medication errors like computerized physician order entry, bar-coded medication administration, e-prescription of drugs, and electronic medication reconciliation. 


Information Technology systems have been reported to have the likelihood of saving up to $88 billion in cost in the U.S.A with increasing adoption.


SCHOLZ DATABANK contains the federal rulings and the specific rulings for 51 states in the U.S. Therefore, integrating SCHOLZ DATA BANK in your doctor's office software may help to make e-prescribing of controlled drugs nearly as easy as prescribing any other medication.    


David Blumenthal, an academic physician and health care policy expert said that:

 `INFORMATION IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS DESTINED TO BE THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM FOR THAT INFORMATION`


References:

Agrawal A. (2009). Medication errors: prevention using information technology systems. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 67(6), 681–686. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2009.03427.x


Bates D. W. (2000). Using information technology to reduce rates of medication errors in hospitals. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 320(7237), 788–791. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7237.788


Foisey, C. (4). Ways Technology Is Improving Patient Safety,(2017). URL: www. healthitoutcomes. com/doc/ways-technology-improving-patient-safety-0001 (accessed 3 March 2020).


Kelly, W. N. (2002). 10 Drug Interactions Every Pharmacist Should Know. PHARMACY TIMES, 68(11), 46-48.


Nabovati, E., Vakili-Arki, H., Taherzadeh, Z., Saberi, M. R., Medlock, S., Abu-Hanna, A., & Eslami, S. (2017). Information technology-based interventions to improve drug-drug interaction outcomes: a systematic review on features and effects. Journal of medical systems, 41(1), 1-17.


Schneider, P. J. (2018). The impact of technology on safe medicines use and pharmacy practice in the US. Frontiers in pharmacology, 9, 1361.