Drug interaction monitoring in your pharmacy involves systematically tracking and evaluating the effects of different medications when taken together. As you know, this is a very important process to ensure your patients’ combination of drugs don’t lead to harmful interactions, reduced effectiveness, or adverse side effects. Listed below are some valuable tips you probably already know, but it’s important to revisit them so you know you’re still on track.
Stay updated: Are you up to date with the latest research, clinical guidelines, and drug information? If not, quickly get in the know. It’s also a good idea to attend as many professional development courses and workshops to keep informed about new drug interactions.
Use technology: Identify potential interactions with the use of electronic health records (EHRs), drug interaction checkers, and pharmacy management software. Tools like these will provide alerts and updates on the latest interaction data.
Comprehensive medication review: Be sure you’re performing thorough medication reviews, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, supplements, and herbal products. It’s important that you understand the patient’s complete medication profile.
Educate your patients: Knowing all of your patients’ medications they’re taking is dire. So, make sure you educate them on the potential interaction symptoms and how important adherence to their prescribed dosages truly are.
Collaborate with healthcare providers: Maintain open communication with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Share information about potential interactions and work together to adjust treatment plans as needed.
Closely monitor high-risk patients: Patients with multiple chronic conditions, those who take multiple medications, or those with a history of drug interactions are at higher risk of adverse interactions. Therefore, give them extra attention and check in on them more often.
Keep detailed records: Document and report all interactions and interventions with your patients. Report any adverse drug interactions to relevant authorities, such as the FDA’s MedWatch program.
It can be hard to keep up with everything and everybody in your pharmacy. Just remember to stay organized and make a systematic approach to monitoring drug interactions. Checklists are important, as are protocols and standardized procedures so you can ensure consistency and thoroughness. And one more thing: Don’t forget to encourage patient feedback.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and run by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited warehouse with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
