Mobile Drug Inquiry System To Cut Errors

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

A study published by the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology showed use of a mobile drug inquiry system reduced errors and improved adherence.

Patients with chronic kidney disease recently tested a mobile drug inquiry system - half were asked to use the system on PDAs, the other half used a similar text message service. Researchers conducting the study, which was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, instructed patients to enter information from pill bottles into the system.

According to iHealth Beat, patients then received one of the following messages:

• the medication was not safe for their condition
• the medication was safe for their condition
• they should use the medication with caution and speak to their provider

Patients were then given a satisfaction survey.

“General usability of the MIS application was high, regardless of platform type, with only a 5 percent error rate,” Clarissa Jonas Diamantidis, MD, the Duke researcher in charge of the 20-patient study, according to Healthcare IT News. “The majority of participants found the application easy to use and helpful in avoiding the use of harmful medications, and they would recommend the application to others.”

“What Diamantidis and colleagues have done is extend that treatment platform beyond traditional care settings into the home,” wrote Bryan Becker, MD, of the University of Chicago in an editorial accompanying the study. “They have used a tool to create a small but very important first step in achieving patient engagement and patient satisfaction in self-care.”