Critical drug–drug interactions for use in electronic health records systems with computerized physician order entry: review of leading approaches.
The safety performance of computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems has been somewhat disappointing. Even when combined with decision support, CPOE systems frequently fail to detect potentially serious medication errors such as drug–drug interactions. Noting that there is no standard for which drug–drug interactions should be prioritized in CPOE systems, this article reports on development of a list of several interactions that should require hard stops (to essentially prevent co-prescribing). Developing a standardized approach to displaying drug–drug interaction warnings within CPOE systems may not only help reduce medication errors, but also improve the usability of such systems by minimizing alert fatigue.