INTERPOLAR studies to improve medication safety enter practical phase | 6th INTERPOLAR Day in Leipzig
This autumn, the first IT solutions to improve medication safety will be introduced in the participating university hospitals as part of the INTERPOLAR studies. To discuss the final steps towards the start of the studies, the project team met on 18 and 19 September for the INTERPOLAR Day at the Albertina Library of the Leipzig University.
Cross-site documentation of medication-related problems introduced
INTERPOLAR is investigating whether an IT-supported medication analysis helps ward pharmacists to efficiently identify and assess medication-related problems. Drug-related problems are events or circumstances in drug therapy that actually or potentially prevent the achievement of desired therapeutic goals. This includes drug-drug interactions, which are often caused by the use of many different medications. The first phase of the study, INTERPOLAR-1a, will lay the groundwork for automated analysis. For the first time, standardised, cross-site documentation of drug-related problems will be introduced. The Medication Therapy Safety Cockpit (AMTS Cockpit) developed for this purpose serves as a central user interface for ward pharmacists.
The INTERPOLAR team is currently working on the technical infrastructure for the study. The internal transfer of data from hospital information systems by the Data Integration Centers has already been tested as a prototype at the first sites. At the INTERPOLAR Day, the “Cockpit” working group presented the final documentation and interaction concept, as well as the user interface of the AMTS cockpit, which allows ward pharmacists to manage their medication analyses in a clear way.
Individual health conditions of patients will be recorded
The capturing of PROM (Patient Related Outcome Measures) is also an important part of the INTERPOLAR studies. PROM can be used to measure and compare the health status perceived by patients during or after treatment. At the INTERPOLAR Day, the PROM Working Group presented the current status of its work. In INTERPOLAR, the health status and symptoms of patients are to be recorded directly by giving the patients access to an electronic survey tool via the Data Integration Centers of the participating clinics. The survey tool has been developed by the Institute for Digital Medicine in Bonn. The aim of the PROM survey is to examine the extent to which medication analyses contribute to the sustainable elimination of drug-related problems. The preliminary work of the PROM working group will also serve as a basis for future projects of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII).
Farewell to a long-time colleague
The INTERPOLAR Day was also the occasion to bid farewell to Dr Maryam Yahiaoui-Doktor. She worked for 14 years at the Institute of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology in database programming and biometrics. At INTERPOLAR, she made a significant contribution to the technical set-up of the AMTS cockpit and worked with ward pharmacists to design the documentation of drug-related problems. The entire INTERPOLAR team would like to thank her for her work, which has been crucial in moving the project forward.
The next INTERPOLAR Day will take place on 11 and 12 March at the Albertina Library in Leipzig.