Dosage Range Check Module Monitor the Appropriateness of Drug Dosing

The Dosage Range Check Module helps clinicians monitor the appropriateness of drug dosing using patient-specific age, indications and organ function data. If patient-specific data are not available in the CPOE, EMR or other information system providing clinical decision support, this module checks a dose range for a specified drug that consolidates typical data for common illnesses.

Screens Against More Than 10,000 Frequently Prescribed Drugs

The Dosage Range Check Module screens against more than 10,000 frequently prescribed drug products so clinicians can quickly ensure doses are checked against low, high or maximum dosage levels. Dosage recommendations include (when appropriate): Low, high and maximum daily dose Dosing frequency or frequency range Duration of therapy, minimum and maximum lengths Maximum single dose Maximum lifetime dose Renal and hepatic impairment dosage adjustment indicators Age ranges Gestational age at birth (when required for neonatal patients) Multiple dose types Narcotic-analgesic monitoring

Help Prevent Adverse Drug Events for Newborns Up to Age One

Neonatal and infant patients are considered to be at higher risk than adults for medication errors and adverse drug events, especially in hospital acute care settings. Drawing on the expertise of First DataBank's experienced clinical pediatric pharmacists, neonatal and infant dose checking offers specialized dosing information for this population and includes dosing for premature neonates. This dose range content accommodates the narrow therapeutic window for neonates and infants, helping clinicians to prevent dosing errors by factoring in several critical characteristics, including weight, gestational age at birth and medical condition, when available. Medication screening covers those drugs most commonly prescribed for newborns in an acute-care setting.

Use With Other First DataBank Products

First DataBank's dosing modules can also be embedded into virtually any healthcare information system, using our content-integration software, the Drug Information Framework. This enables developers to build healthcare solutions faster and more economically, and simplifies the process of customizing clinical modules so that clinicians can set their own dose ranges, interaction severity levels and drug pick lists.

Drug Allergy Module Help Prevent Drug-Allergy Reactions to Enhance Patient Safety
Drug-allergy screening is critical, since drug-allergy reactions can result in seriouseven life-threateningconsequences. They are known to comprise about 25% of all adverse drug reactions. That's why they have to be considered carefully when you're prescribing drug therapy.

Reduce Drug-Allergy Risks

The easy-to-use Drug-Allergy Module quickly identifies drugs known to cause clinically significant allergic reactions. This information helps patients avoid the risk of drug-therapy hypersensitivity reactions. Drug-allergy screening also alerts you to cross-sensitivities among related drugs that patients are allergic to, preventing reactions to drugs with similar compounds. And it documents drug intolerances, such as those causing patient complaints of nausea when taking codeine. These distinctions can help you distinguish a true allergy from minor adverse effects, guiding your risk-to-benefit assessments when deciding whether to prescribe a drug for a particular patient.

Use Convenient, Pre-Defined Pick Lists

In use, drug-allergy screening presents you with a pre-defined pick lista set of drug concepts that makes patient allergy profiling faster and more convenient. Pick lists are created by assembling sets of major drug brand names, allergen groups and individual ingredients. They're designed for "filter-as-you-type" applications, rather than "drop-downlist" usage. And they're maintained by First DataBank, eliminating the need for healthcare installationsyour customersto create and maintain their own lists of allergens for profiling.

Perform Drug-Allergy Screening for "Inactive" Ingredients Too

Drug-allergy screening further enables screening for inactive medication ingredientssuch as latex, peanuts and dyesthat can cause hypersensitivity reactions. Information on inactive ingredients is constantly gathered by First DataBank clinical experts for individual products at the National Drug Code (NDC) level, based on package inserts and labeling.

Accelerate Development Cycles

System developers will find many design features in this module that can speed up product development cycles. For example, it stores allergy data over the lifetime of a patient, across a whole range of healthcare settings. This results from use of "good vocabulary practices" to represent allergy concepts with stable identifiers and random ("dumb") numbers. By using this well-defined methodology for retiring and replacing drug and allergy concepts, change management becomes much simpler. In addition, the Drug Allergy Module defines true allergy groups; it doesn't use therapeutic classes or other existing categories that have been repurposed to cover allergies.

Drug Images Module For Better Patient Safety, Identify and Reconcile Drugs Prescribed with Drugs Dispensed, Using Drug Images
To elaborate an old saying: A picture (drug image) is worth a thousand words (of descriptive text).And with First DataBanks Drug Images Module, you have immediate access to over 21,000 drug image NDCs (National Drug Codes). These are high-resolution images of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, using state-of-the-art digital photography.

Part of the Patient's Five Rights

These images can help you and your patients identify drug products that are unpackaged, unlabeled or unknown. This database enables you and other healthcare professionals to visually verify that the medication being dispensed or administered is the right one, by comparing the screen image with the actual medication. If they dont match, you have an opportunity to reconcile the two, thus possibly avoiding a medication error.

Extensive Drug Coverage

The Drug Images database includes images of solid oral drug products, including tablets and capsules. Also included are over-the-counter products and dosage forms such as liquids, wrapped suppositories, ampules, vials, ointment tubes, patches and unit doses. These images can be viewed on a color monitor or printed in black and white or color, as an education tool for the patient. The database can be linked to any 11-digit NDC file, including those provided by First DataBank.

Many Varied Applications

Use of drug images can: Assist in reducing the potential forand costs ofmedication errors, by allowing the healthcare professional to match the drug being dispensed or administered with the description of the prescribed drug, anywhere throughout the drug therapy process Fit into virtually any healthcare workflow Become part of a medication administration safety program Assist in patient compliance by enhancing patient education as required by Medicare COP, JCAHO and OBRA '90 regulations Allow the patient or caregiver to verify the medication at home, when printed on a patient drug education leaflet Aid healthcare professionals in identifying a patient's unpackaged, unlabeled or unknown drug products Assist manufacturers and repackagers in verifying products dispensed using mass fill processes; also demonstrate good manufacturing practices for the FDA

Indications Module Lower the Risk of Inappropriate Drug Therapy Based on Indication Screening
First DataBank's Indications Module can be used as a tool for assessing the appropriateness of a particular course of drug therapy, given a specific medical condition. This module can help you make informed decisions regarding a choice of medications that are known to be appropriate for your patient's condition.

Listing Drugs for a Given Disease State

You can use the Indications Module to generate a list of drugsin a "look-up" modethat are commonly used to treat a given disease state. Or, given a specific drug, you can query the module for a list of indications that it is typically chosen to treat. These lists are based on matchingfor a particular drugthe FDA-approved indications, as well as reported unlabeled uses that have been substantiated by the primary medical literature. You can choose to view all indications, or only the FDA-approved ones.

Performing Drug Utilization Reviews

You'll find the Indications Module useful in both prospective and retrospective Drug Utilization Reviews. For retrospective applications, for example, drug use patterns can be tracked and then analyzed using the Indications Module medications database. Drug orders that reveal drug-disease contraindications can be flagged to show potentially inappropriate therapy (see also the Drug-Disease Contraindications Module). You can also generate reports indicating physician prescribing patterns or the frequency of inappropriately prescribed targeted drugs.

Predicting Drug-Condition Ordering Likelihoods

Using the Indications Module knowledge base, an application can predict (at three levels of certainty) that a particular drug is being used to manage a specified indication. This can be useful for prioritizing the indications for a known drug when a patient diagnosis is unavailable. The Indications Module operates in a standalone pharmacy system environment, so no direct link to a patient's medical history is required; if one is available, however, it can be used.

Working with the First DataBank Medical Lexicon

The Indications Module is used in conjunction with the First DataBank Medical Lexicon (FML)a controlled, concept-based medical vocabulary. FML uniquely represents not only indications, but also disease conditions, and health-related conditions, such as diagnoses, symptoms and side effects. Phrases referring to indication-related terms can be searched or displayed using either primary professional terminology or standard medical abbreviations. For consumer applications, layman synonyms are provided. FML allows both related-concept searches and alerts.

Precautions Module Professional Guidance for Differing Drug Therapies

First DataBank's Drug-Condition Precautions Modules offer guidance for professionals in making appropriate decisions about drug therapy in pediatric, geriatric, pregnant, or lactating patients.

Pediatric Precautions
Pediatric patients can be very sensitive to drug therapy, especially within specific age ranges. With this module, you'll have access to valuable information for minimizing adverse effects. It provides everything you need to generate comprehensive messages when problems may exist.

Geriatric Precautions
This module enables you to create warning messages about drug use in geriatric patients. It gives you access to extensive geriatric precaution information, including: Severity level and contraindication information for the precaution Specific organ systems associated with an adverse effect A brief summary of the particular precaution

Pregnancy Precautions
This module enables the healthcare professional to recognize drug therapy that may not be appropriate for pregnant women. It provides not only all of the FDA's precautions, but also additional research as well. Our staff of clinical pharmacists continually reviews the primary and secondary literature for any drugs that warrant precautions. When there is no FDA designation, you can rely on First DataBank's supplementary warnings when studies reveal that a precaution may be prudent. This module automatically provides information about contraindications, potential risks, and precautionsat the system designer's discretion.

Lactation Precautions
This module creates warnings about the use of drugs by nursing mothers. The warnings provided enable the healthcare professional to make informed decisions about altering a patient's drug therapy when potential problems exist. This module encompasses everything needed to generate comprehensive messages for the healthcare professional. It supplies four basic pieces of information about drug use in a nursing mother: Reports if a contraindication, precaution, or lack of risk has been documented in available studies Establishes whether it is known if a particular drug is excreted in breast milk Provides data on whether or not the excreted drug affects the infant Gives details about the particular precaution

Drug-Alternative Therapy Interactions Comprehensive, Reliable Data on Drug-Alternative Therapy Interactions

Consumers in recent years have turned increasingly to alternative therapy agents such as herbals, dietary supplements and other homeopathic remedies to treat serious medical conditions. Unfortunately, when these products are taken in the wrong doses or in combination with pharmaceutical drugs, they can cause harmful interactions. For this reason, First DataBank has integrated data on the most frequently purchased alternative-therapy products into our drug databases and clinical screening modules

Criteria for Including Alternative-Therapy Content

To be included in our drug databases, these products must meet strict criteria: They must have a unique identifier, price, ingredient, and package information, and be offered by a known, reputable manufacturer. Their therapeutic claims and potential adverse effects must have been substantiated in primary U.S. and international medical literature. Our editorial content is prepared by the same staff of clinical pharmacists who develop the information for traditional medications.

Indications of Severity Level

First DataBank has established a standard severity-level indicator to address interactions involving herbals, dietary supplements, homeopathics, trace elements, nutraceuticals and other non-FDA approved products. Those interactions that are well substantiated in the literature are included in First DataBank's Drug-Drug Interaction Module In cases where a potential alternative-therapy interaction exists, yet documentation is deemed insufficient, First DataBank has created a special severity- level indicator. Each of these interactions receives the same depth of coverage as our "traditional" drug-drug interactions, including interaction descriptions, clinical effect codes, and page numbers referring to First DataBank's Evaluations of Drug Interactions. When these interactions become sufficiently well documented, they are reclassified within a standard severity level, as appropriate.

Giving Patients Confidence in Their Choices

Consumers are constantly barraged with therapeutic claims for alternative-therapy products in the media. What they really need, however, are reliable, objective sources of information on the risks and benefits of these products. To meet this need, First DataBank's Patient Education Module includes monographs on several hundred alternative-therapy products that appear most commonly on the shelves of U.S. retail pharmacies.