Drug Information Systems
Every day, the health of Canadians is threatened by adverse events caused by errors in the manual entry and processing of drug prescriptions. For each prescription allergy, drug-to-drug and drug-to-diagnosis interactions should be checked against a complete medication profile and a legible prescription should be produced for the pharmacist to dispense. In general, across Canada, this is not always the case today.
Infoway's Drug Information Systems Program is focused on creating an interoperable drug information system that will carry all data concerning a patient's medication history: prescribed and dispensed drugs, allergies, ongoing drug treatment, etc., in order to ensure patient safety. Drug and drug-interaction checks are performed automatically and added to the patients' drug profiles in their Electronic Health Record (EHR). These systems provide physicians and pharmacists with data to support appropriate and accurate prescribing and dispensing, thereby avoiding adverse drug interactions and possible related deaths.
List of Projects
Program Benefits
- Quality
- Safety: Decreased adverse drug events.
- Effectiveness: Improved patient compliance with drug therapy.
- Appropriateness: Improved prescribing practice.
- Productivity
- Efficiency: Decreased costs of physician visits, hospitalizations and long-term care placements related to drug complications.
- Care Coordination: Increased access to an integrated drug profile across the continuum of care.
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