Globally, preventable medication errors cost over $1 trillion each year, of which the U.S. economy alone incurs $21 billion with some countries spending up to 15-20% of their healthcare budgets treating them.
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as ‘a response to a medicine which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used’. ADRs are among the leading causes of additional complications and longer hospital stays, morbidity and mortality: it has been estimated that ADRs are the 4th largest cause for mortality in the USA; in Europe, hospital admissions due to ADRs are also on the rise.
In addition to the considerable suffering for patients and their families caused, suitable treatments impose high financial burdens due to costs of hospital care.
The strain that ADRs place on the health care system are significant yet it is estimated that up to 80% of ADRs are preventable.
1. Pharmacovigilance
Pharmacovigilance (PV) is defined as the “science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other possible drug-related problems.
The global pharmacovigilance market is expected to exceed USD 12 Billion by 2027, according to analysts, led by a rise in demand for spontaneous reporting, electronic health data mining, cohort event monitoring, and developments in adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting.
According to the WHO, at least 5% of all hospital admissions are due to adverse drug reactions, and 6.0% to 10% of in-patients are anticipated to observe a severe adverse reaction while hospitalised.
2. Monitoring & Evaluating
Reliable, real-time information is the most critical aspect of drug safety monitoring.
Health-care professionals are best placed to report suspected adverse reactions but patients also have a crucial role in reporting unwanted symptoms as soon as these are detected, even if in doubt about associating the reaction with the medication.
AI-enabled technology can support this subjective analysis to assist in fully detecting and preventing ADRs more effectively for patients.
Especially in care for the elderly, where polypharmacy increases throughout the last year of life of older adults, clinical support is needed to assist physicians in their decision to continue or discontinue medication treatment programmes.
3. Quality and Safety
Quality Pharma has partnered with StrongRoom AI to enable the roll out its powerful medication evaluation tool, the QS System® (“Quantum Satis”) across Strong Room’s AI driven drug management platform, a key milestone for reducing adverse drug events and enhancing health outcomes globally.
The QS System® uses innovative AI to support medication decisions at the point of delivery, identifying patterns and correlations deep within drug and healthcare data sets and is an invaluable tool for drug research and development across multiple, regional, national or international sources to deliver better quality, safer medication.
Developed with Professor Johan Fastbom over the last ten years, the QS System® is a powerful medical evaluation tool to accurately inform the selection of safe, quality medicines. It is the only known software to effectively flag the potential for adverse drug events in polypharmacy, with its unparalleled ability to diagnose and reveal specific indicators (inappropriate drugs, drug duplication, drug-drug interactions, drug-disease interactions, undertreatment etc.) as well as potential adverse drug reactions in treatment programmes of multiple drugs.
Strong Room AI uniquely aggregates drug data across pharmacies, hospitals, and care homes, providing unique patient and organisational insights, driving real efficiencies and innovation in preventative healthcare solutions. Strong Room AI’s community pharmacy, aged care, and hospital platform is currently deployed in over 500 facilities across Australia.
Partnered with the QS System® Strong Room’s drug management platform is reducing the cost and risk of adverse drug reactions at scale, enhancing the efficacy and quality of care through augmented decision making and automation of professional services and empowering individuals with critical information to actively engage in their own wellbeing and improving the quality and safety of professional healthcare.
The focus on using AI to help eliminate adverse drug events is a hugely exciting development in the evolution of Healthcare to SelfCare, and Quality Pharma and StrongRoom are leading the way to show the world how preventative healthcare can be better delivered.