By Alejandro Elías, Key Account Manager for Spain and the Southern Cone at VIDAL Vademecum Internacional
Every time a healthcare institution decides that it needs to migrate information systems, feed new software or implement management control systems, it must first identify whether its medication databases communicate with each other or are preventing the development of the system.
Why? On analyzing the medication cycle from a functional point of view, it emerges that the use of standards is indispensable in EMR integration/upload processes, which need to be fed structured, up to date information to get the best performance out of their advanced functions.
Medication Workflow
In the prescription phase and later stages standards are useful to:
1. Correctly access documents
2. Allow links to other semantic terminology
3. Feed alert systems or decision support modules
4. Provide improved patient safety
5. Achieve measurable savings in medication expenses (duplicated therapies, interactions, etc.)
6. Reduce admission periods and re-admissions due to the adverse effects of medication
Standards and interoperability
Traditionally, terminology standards have been included at the level of pathologies – ICD10, ICPC, etc. – and medications – INN*, ATC, EDQM standard terms. But today, the main models for pharmacological data offer the possibility of administering information at the virtual medicinal product level, regardless of the commercial brand. This function allows us in turn to establish a link to the real product.
Firstly, the entities that work with medications have at their disposal the authorized product IDs but in fact few upload structured catalogues. However, some entities make use of database suppliers that do not just provide an uploading and updating solution of a homogenous catalogue, they also process eventual changes in the format of the catalogues of the regulator and complete the information required by clinics at the point of care as information or clinical alerts via open-source http, XML, or REST technologies.
Information flow
There are different stages along which information is passed from a regulator that publishes information or authorizes the tracking of medications until it reaches the professional:
Every stage of the process, in turn, must generate added value. The work of compiling, maintaining, formatting and data structuring, for example, should help generate a useful body of information – their own medications catalogue – and/or APIs to feed the IS.
The future is here
It is a fact: among regulators, the industry and clinics there is a consensus on describing a medication under the concept of a Virtual Medical Product, as is demonstrated by the examples of Snomed extensions and IDMP ISO codes (Identification of medicinal products, ISO International Standards).
This trend, which will be consolidated over the next few years, will unite clinical and regulatory efforts to liberalize, update, implement and share information in national and transnational environments such as Eurorec o Racsel.
So, when will the real benefits be perceived? When the use of terminology is really generalized at every level of medication value chain.
Source: Vidal Vademecum Internacional – Click here for more information.
