Detection of Drug Interactions via Android Smartphone: Design and Implementation

Abstract

Despite the morbidity and cases of widespread drug poisoning, clinical guidelines are largely written by taking into account only one treatment at a time. The cumulative impact of multiple treatments is rarely considered. Drug treatment for people with several diseases produces a complex regimen called “polypharmacy” with a potential combination of harmful and even lethal drugs that can be prevented. This polypharmacy causes in many cases the death of some people due to drug interactions. The vast majority of these deaths can be prevented by detecting interactions before taking these medications. But the problem is that such information exists in a state that is difficult to access for the general public, much less for people with little knowledge in the field. Although the pharmacist is unmistakable and most viable source to avoid such a problem, he cannot know what the patient does not mention because he is not aware of what may affect his treatment. To remedy this, we aim in this paper to develop an ergonomic Android application that will inform the patient about the potential risks of such drug interactions. The application is optimized to handle various databases and operate automation of QR code.