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UA Researchers Identifying Algorithms to Increase Relevant Drug Interaction Alerts

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UA Researchers Identifying Algorithms to Increase Relevant Drug Interaction Alerts

Aug. 9, 2018
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The algorithms will be incorporated into electronic health record systems to alert providers about relevant, patient-specific, potential drug interactions.

Each day, health-care providers are bombarded with electronic notifications in patients' electronic health records, alerting them to potential drug interactions.

Many of these notifications go unread because they are irrelevant, dismissed by the physician out of haste, or common knowledge. Critical alerts that sometimes could mean life or death for a patient then go unnoticed and the opportunity to intervene is missed.

To address this issue, Daniel C. Malone, RPh, PhD, FAMCP, a professor at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, has received a five-year, $1.58 million grant to develop algorithms that provide relevant, patient-specific alerts about drug interactions.

Dr. Malone's research team includes Sheila Gephart, RN, PhD, associate professor at the UA College of Nursing, and Vignesh Subbian, PhD, assistant professor at the UA College of Engineering, as well as several internationally renowned experts in the field of drug-drug interactions from other institutions.