Drug Interaction Checking

When clinicians prescribe a new medication to a patient, Clinical performs conditions, allergies, drugs, medical history and so on.

A number of interaction checks are performed when a new medication is prescribed for a patient, for example, if they are flagged as pregnant or if their allergies or warnings are changed.

If required, you can make interaction checking inactive. For more information, refer to Prescribing Options.


Interaction checking	Description
Drug-to-Age	When a new medication is prescribed, it is checked for suitability against the patient's age.
Drug-to-Age and Sex at birth	When a new medication is prescribed, it is checked for suitability against the patient's age and sex-at-birth.
Drug-to-Allergy	When a new medication is prescribed, it is checked against the patient's allergy list and a warning message is displayed if there is an interaction. Clinical also checks a patient's current medications when a new allergy or history item is added for the patient. If either are found, a warning is displayed, with the option to Continue or Cancel the entry. If you cancel the new medication you are returned to the medication list.
Drug-to-Breast Feeding	When a new medication is prescribed, a check is made to see if the patient is flagged as breast feeding (indicated by the associated check box on the Allergies/Warnings tab of the patient's demographics).
Drug-to-Disease	When a new medication is prescribed, Clinical checks for drug-disease interactions. The diseases that have been added to the patient's past medical history are compared to a hard-coded condition list. Clinical gives specific contraindications, precautions, and warning statements when any MDref listed drug is prescribed, if the patient has any disease noted in the Product Information documents currently available. View the current list of drug-disease interactions for a particular drug via MDref > Interaction. This information is updated every time the MDref drug database is updated. For more information, refer to MDref and the MDref Explorer.
Drug-to-Drug	The new medication is checked against existing medications in the patient's record for any interactions. For more information, refer to Drug-to-Drug Checking.
Drug-to-Gluten	For Gluten warnings to display, you need to record any of the following diseases in the patient's Past Medical History: Gluten intolerance Gluten enteropathy Coeliac disease Dermatitis herpetiformis If a medication containing gluten is prescribed for a patient having any of the above items in their history, a warning is displayed giving details of the gluten interaction. The prescriber then has the choice of proceeding, canceling or viewing the Product Information for more information about the interaction.
Drug-to-Pregnancy	Interactions between a drug and pregnancy are checked when: A new medication is added - the patient's record is checked to determine if a current pregnancy is recorded. An existing medication is represcribed that is reprinted via the CurrentRx tab of the patient's record. A new pregnancy is recorded for the patient - their current medication list is checked. Likewise when a patient is flagged as pregnant, their current medications list is checked for interactions. If any medications are found which are known to interfere with the pregnancy, a warning window which includes the pregnancy code is displayed for each interacting drug. Also, for category X medications, you must confirm that you want to prescribe or maintain the prescription by manually typing the word `YES` into the associated prompt window.
Drug-to-Spelling	When a new medication is prescribed, a check is made against similarly spelled medications. You are required to confirm its selection.
Drug-to-Sport	When a new medication is prescribed, a check is made to see if the patient is flagged as an elite sports person (indicated by the associated check box on the Allergies/Warnings tab of the patient's demographics).