Development of an automated system for managing the risks of drug interactions at the drug dispensing stage

Introduction. Pharmacovigilance is a scientific and practical activity focused on monitoring and studying the safety of medicinal products to prevent their adverse effects. Errors resulting from irrational drug prescribing are preventable. Reducing such prescription errors is a continuous process aimed at improving the quality of healthcare services. Errors occurring at the prescribing stage can be detected when drugs are dispensed in pharmacies.

Objective. To develop processes for improving the provision of pharmaceutical services to the population, considering the increasing prevalence of patient comorbidities.

Material and methods. The study employed general logical methods of scientific inquiry, structural-logical and empirical methods, generalization and extrapolation, recursion and computer modeling, as well as statistical analysis.

Results and discussion. Pharmaceutical counseling during drug dispensing is a key responsibility of pharmacists in providing pharmaceutical services. At this stage, pharmacists offer services in the form of counseling and information. As part of this research, a computer program titled «A Support System for Informational and Advisory Assistance in the Simultaneous Dispensing of Multiple Drugs» was developed. The program is designed to function as a decision support system for pharmacists, aiding in pharmaceutical counseling and information provision in complex cases involving the simultaneous dispensing of multiple drugs with potential adverse interactions. Testing of the program in a pharmacy setting demonstrated a 20% reduction in the time required for drug selection during pharmaceutical counseling.

Conclusion. An experimental evaluation of the program's effectiveness showed that its implementation into the practice of pharmaceutical information at the dispensing stage in pharmacy organizations can increase pharmacy revenue by up to 6%. Simultaneously, it addresses another identified issue — the lack of time for pharmacy staff to enhance their competencies in performing pharmacovigilance functions.

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