The potential for drug interactions

Abstract

To study the problem of drug interactions in an emergency department, a microcomputer was programmed to identify the potentially adverse enhancements and antagonistic interactions of drugs in a randomly chosen group of 355 patients who were currently taking or were administered two or more medications. Interactions were present in 57 patients (16%), with an incidence ranging from 5.6% for those taking two drugs to 100% for those taking seven drugs. From the total of 76 potential drug interactions identified, 69 involved one of only 10 drugs, and 15 interactions (20%) appeared to be potential clinical significant. To supplement the computer program and educational sessions, a common drug interaction table was developed, accounting for 90% of the potential drug interactions seen in our emergency department.