AUTOMATICALLY ASSESSING DRUG INTERACTIONS WHILE PROTECTING PATIENT PRIVACY

• US 20100274586A1
• Filed: 04/23/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hockings, Christopher J., Readshaw, Neil I., Choi, Christopher Y.
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

A drug interaction utility can retrieve the patient'"'"'s current medications from a medication information card on the smart card by interacting with an identity selector on the provider'"'"'s computer. The identity selector can transmit the current medications to the drug interaction utility without disclosing any information about the current medications to the provider and without disclosing any information identifying tile patient to the drug interaction utility.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

detecting a request, from a medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a proposed medication and a plurality of current medications of a patient;

requesting a medication information card from an identity selector to cause the identity selector to retrieve the medication information card from an electronic device, wherein the medication information card stores data about the current medications of the patient;

receiving the medication information card from the identity selector;

determining the plurality of current medications from the medication information card;

searching a drug interaction database for interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determining that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determining that information about the plurality of current medications should not be disclosed to the medical provider; and

displaying, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises one of a smart card, a portable storage device, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said displaying, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications further comprises suggesting alternatives to the proposed medication.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

searching the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determining that there arc interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determining that information about the plurality of current medications should be disclosed to the medical provider; and

displaying, to the medical provider, the interactions along with information about one or more of the plurality of current medications that interacts with the second proposed medication.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

searching the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determining that there are no interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications; and

displaying, to the medical provider a second indication that there are no interactions.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a request to add a new medication to the plurality of current medications of the patient;

determining that the new medication should be added to the plurality of current medication based, at least in part, on input from the patient; and

instructing the identity selector to write the new medication to the plurality of current medications.

7. A computer program product for automatically assessing drug interactions while protecting patient privacy, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to,

detect a request, from a medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a proposed medication and a plurality of current medications of a patient;

request a medication information card from an identity selector to cause the identity selector to retrieve the medication information card from an electronic device, wherein the medication information card stores data about the current medications of the patient;

receive the medication information card from the identity selector;

determine the plurality of current medications from the medication information card;

search a drug interaction database for interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that information about the plurality of current medications should not be disclosed to the medical provider; and

display, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the electronic device comprises one of a smart card, a portable storage device, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said computer usable program code being configured to display, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications comprises the computer usable code being configured to suggest alternatives to the proposed medication.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable code is further configured to:

detect a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

search the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that information about the plurality of current medications should be disclosed to the medical provider; and

display, to the medical provider, the interactions along with information about one or more of the plurality of current medications that interacts with the second proposed medication.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable code is further configured to:

detect a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

search the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are no interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications; and

display, to the medical provider a second indication that there are no interactions.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable code is further configured to:

detect a request to add a new medication to the plurality of current medications of the patient;

determine that the new medication should be added to the plurality of current medication based, at least in part, on input from the patient; and

instruct the identity selector to write the new medication to the plurality of current medications.

13. A computer program product for automatically assessing drug interactions while protecting patient privacy, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to,

detect a request to add new medication to current medications of a patient;

request a medication information card from an identity selector to cause the identity selector to retrieve the medication information card from an electronic device;

receive the medication information card from the identity selector;

determine the current medications from the medication information card;

search a drug interaction database for interactions among the new and the current medications;

determine that there are no interactions among the new medication and the current medications; and

instruct the identity selector to write the new medication to the current medications.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable code is further configured to:

detect an indication to delete a first medication from the current medications; and

delete the first medication from the current medications.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a set of one or more processing units;

a network interface; and

a medication management unit operable to,

detect a request, from a medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a proposed medication and a plurality of current medications of a patient;

request a medication information card from an identity selector to cause the identity selector to retrieve the medication information card from an electronic device, wherein the medication information card stores data about the current medications of the patient;

receive the medication information card from the identity selector;

determine the plurality of current medications from the medication information card;

search a drug interaction database for interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that information about the plurality of current medications should not be disclosed to the medical provider; and

display, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the electronic device comprises one of a smart card, a portable storage device, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said the medication management unit being operable to display, to the medical provider, an indication that there are interactions among the proposed medication and the plurality of current medications while preserving confidentiality of the plurality of current medications further comprises the medication management unit being operable to suggest alternatives to the proposed medication.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprises the medication management unit being operable to:

detect a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

searching the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that information about the plurality of current medications should be disclosed to the medical provider; and

display, to the medical provider, the interactions along with information about one or more of the plurality of current medications that interacts with the second proposed medication.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprises the medication management unit being operable to:

detect a second request, from the medical provider, to analyze drug interactions among a second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications of the patient;

search the drug interaction database for interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications;

determine that there are no interactions among the second proposed medication and the plurality of current medications; and

display, to the medical provider a second indication that there are no interactions.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprises the medication management unit being operable to:

detect a request to add a new medication to the plurality of current medications of the patient;

determine that the new medication should be added to the plurality of current medication based, at least in part, on input from the patient; and

instruct the identity selector to write the new medication to the plurality of current medications.