A Balanced, Flexible Approach to Help Prevent Clinically Significant Drug Interactions

The ever-increasing volume of new, sophisticated medications has been paralleled by an increased incidence of adverse drug events (ADE's), some resulting from drug interactions. In 2001, for example, an estimated 4.3 million Americans sought doctor or hospital treatment for ADE's.* Thus, users may find the task of preventing potential ADE's almost overwhelming. That's where First DataBank's Drug-Drug Interaction Module can help reduce the risk.

Presents Highly Flexible Drug-Interaction Severity Levels and Filtering Parameters

This drug database—widely used throughout the healthcare industry—offers exceptionally flexible ways for developers to create applications that categorize and display potentially harmful drug-drug interactions. These drug interactions are separated into highly granular categories, which help in refining how you handle them, to manage message overload.

Additionally, First DataBank identifies the type of evidence available for each drug interaction—such as animal study or randomized, controlled study—allowing further choice in how a system or institution treats interaction groupings.

Includes Documented Drug-Alternative Therapy Interactions

In addition to its three interaction severity levels and numerous "clinical effects" sub-categories, this module includes a category for alternative therapy agents, such as herbals and dietary supplements (see Drug-Alternative Therapy Interactions). To be included in this category, a drug interaction must be documented either in the published medical literature, or in the manufacturer's prescribing information.

Incorporates Professional Drug-Interaction Monographs

The Drug-Drug Interaction Module includes professional monographs that refer to the primary medical literature. Each section is coded to allow users to access the entire drug interaction monograph, or just specific sections. Drug Interaction Monograph content includes:

• The mechanism of action
• Clinical effects
• Factors that predispose certain patients
• Suggestions for patient management
• A summary of the primary literature, with references
• References including manufacturer’s prescribing information and primary medical literature
• Cross references to First DataBank's Evaluations of Drug Interactions (EDI), a comprehensive source for additional drug interaction data, updated six times a year

A consumer version of this module, Drug-Drug Interactions for Consumers, is also available. Written expressly for consumers, it offers convenient access to drug interaction information from the Internet or other electronic platform.

*Article in Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, July 2005, by Chunliu Zhan, MD, PhD