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PharmAlert — Clinical Decision Support

MINISTRIES OF HEALTH

Medication safety at population scale.

A national or regional medication safety programme needs more than an alerting tool. It needs a consistent ruleset, an auditable record of decisions, and visibility of where prescribing risk actually concentrates.

The setting

Prescribing governance operates across many organisations, each with its own systems and its own local formulary. Comparing safety performance between them is difficult when every site defines a finding differently.

Where risk builds up

  • Duplicate therapy across organisational boundaries, which no single system sees.
  • Inconsistent alerting between sites, making comparison meaningless.
  • No shared record of why alerts were overridden, so patterns go unexamined.
  • Safety programmes measured on activity rather than on findings actioned.

Where PharmAlert fits

One ruleset applied consistently across sites, with the reasoning behind every ranking open to inspection. Override reasons are recorded in a common vocabulary, so governance teams can look at patterns across a region rather than anecdotes from one ward.

A check for this setting

Duplicate therapy across two prescribers

Patient
M · 58 · eGFR 88
Medicines
3
CriticalPA-DUP-001

Two SSRIs prescribed

Two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are prescribed concurrently. No added benefit, and a risk of serotonin syndrome.

Well documented · Established

SuggestedConfirm whether this is a planned cross-taper. If not, one agent should be stopped.

WarningPA-INT-021

SSRI + NSAID

SSRIs impair platelet aggregation and NSAIDs damage gastric mucosa. Combined use raises upper gastrointestinal bleeding risk.

Well documented · Established

SuggestedParacetamol, or add gastroprotection if the NSAID is required — confirm against local formulary.

2 risks · 1 critical

Demonstration only, using fictional patients. Not for clinical use.

What a pilot involves

SCOPE
A defined region or a group of organisations, with a named programme lead.
INTEGRATION
Batch review, with reporting at organisation level.
MEASURES
Findings by category and by site, override patterns, and variation between organisations.
DURATION
Agreed with the programme; typically longer than a single-site pilot.

Tell us about your setting.

We will come back with what a pilot would look like for you.

Request a pilot