Project Problem and Terms
In hospital settings, one of the major concerns to administering boards is pharmaceutical product management and utilization. According to recent studies, one of the leading causes of severe complications is adverse drug events due to unaccounted drug-to-drug interactions (Toivo, Mikkola, Laine, & Airaksinen, 2016). Moreover, improper drug utilization patterns often lead to substance use disorder among healthcare professionals (Cares, Pace, Denious, & Crane, 2014). A well-organized easy-to-use database dealing with pharmaceutical products may lead to improvements in drug management that can prevent prescription errors and decrease the number of substance abuse cases.
The present paper uses the following key terms:
- Substance. A medical drug used to treat diseases and disorders.
- Therapeutic Indications. A description of the disease to be treated with medicine, and the population for which the medication is intended.
- Drug-to-Drug Interaction (DDI). An adverse effect a substance may produce when used together with another medicine.
Identifying the Users
The proposed database will be used by medical professionals, managers controlling substance use, and a system administrator. A group of medical professionals includes doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. These users are competent in the medical aspect of the database, as they are mostly aware of the substances’ names, therapeutic indications, and management requirements. The second group includes the board of directors and supervisors, who are competent in drug management and utilization. The database will be supported by a system administrator with limited knowledge about the medical aspect of the database.
Data Collection
The proposed database requires compiling the information about all the pharmaceutical products used by the hospital, their product group, therapeutic indications, and DDIs. Moreover, the database will include the management and utilization requirements of all the substances. This information is needed to avoid prescription errors and remind the medical personnel about the hospital standards of drug usage.
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of the project is to create a template for a database that will decrease the possibility of the mistakes made by medical personnel in prescribing and managing substances. The objectives of the system are:
- Allow easy access to all the pharmaceutical data relevant for hospitals;
- Provide links to all product groups and substances with which the medication may have DDIs;
- Put a special emphasis on substance management and utilization rules.
According to Coronel and Morris (2019), as the database will need to describe correlations among therapeutic indications of different substances, the database will have an entity-relational database model.
Steps to Meet Goals and Objectives
Here are the steps suggested by Coronel and Morris (2019) to design an efficient database:
- Step 1. I will discover and describe the business rules of the hospital.
- Step 2. I will choose a data model according to the business process of a medical institution.
- Step 3. I will identify all the entities, attributes, relationships, and constraints of the model.
- Step 4. I will gather all the necessary information that needs to be entered into the database.
Potential Problems
The potential problems are connected with specific features of the proposed database. First, the most obvious problem is acquiring information about all the related substances and DDIs used at hospital grounds due to a large amount of data. Second, the data is presented in a specialized language used by medical professionals that may be hard to grasp. Finally, difficulties can be encountered due to a lack of experience in database design. In short, the list of potential problems includes objective and subjective factors.
Value of the Project
The project is crucial for healthcare professionals to realize all the DDIs and avoid prescription errors. Moreover, the database will be useful for hospital managers to control substance use. While the project may seem like an ambitious attempt to gather a large amount of data in one place, it is feasible, as the primary goal is to create a template rather than collect all the relevant information. In conclusion, the project will be beneficial for all people dealing with pharmaceutical products.
References
Cares, A., Pace, E., Denious, J., & Crane, L. (2014). Substance use and mental illness among nurses: Workplace warning signs and barriers to seeking assistance. Substance Abuse, 36(1), 59-66. Web.
Coronel, C., & Morris, S. (2019). Database systems: Design, implementation, and management. (13th ed.). Web.
Toivo, T., Mikkola, J., Laine, K., & Airaksinen, M. (2016). Identifying high risk medications causing potential drug–drug interactions in outpatients: A prescription database study based on an online surveillance system. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy,12(4), 559-568. Web.