Opessu, Abbott, & Bassler 1MyMedMinder: Personal Health Records To Maintain Medication ListsPatti Abbott [email protected] Bassler [email protected] Pessu [email protected] Website:http://129.2.168.8/medminder/2 December 2006Opessu, Abbott, & Bassler 2AbstractMyMedMinder is a web based service designed to assist users in organizing and keeping a history their medications. It is known from the literature that patients are challenged to keep an accurate record of their medications, which can result in error. This service will be beneficial in that it allows users to organize their medication history automatically and store it digitally. Implementing MyMedMinder as a website allows for instant access of these records from any location with an internet connection. For those who feel more confident in possessing a hard copy of their medication record, the option to print to paper is available. The system allows patients, via a password, to review and update their medication histories as needed. We hope that this service will help to reduce confusion among patients, assist doctors in treatment and help prevent deadly mistake resulting from known drug interactions.CreditsThis project was the result of a team effort. Pat Kessler assisted with the development of the mockup/prototype as did other members of the team. Okpe completed the initial database development. Patti and Chris produced the written reports and worked intensely on the development and refinement of the prototypes. Final usability testing and analysis was completed by Patti, Okpe, and Chris. The final report write-up was completed by the combined effort of Okpe, Chris and Patti.IntroductionPolypharmacy is a common problem in older adults, and is defined as the concurrent use of several medications at the same time. While the use of several drugs at the same time is not necessarily a bad thing, it is a difficult task for the average older adult to manage. Polypharmacy often results in missed medications, confusion, and error.The causes of polypharmacy are multidimensional. Most patients see more than one provider, referral to specialists is common, and a “provider” is often times not a physician. Therefore, it is common for patients to be treated by a myriad of providers, each prescribing medications for different symptoms. From a providers perspective, the complexity of trying to prescribe medications for health conditions without an accurate understanding of the current medication regimen results in an increased chance for adverse reactions, drug interactions, and medication errors. From the patient’s perspective, barriers to compliance with treatment arise. Patients are confused about which drugs to take when, and why they are taking the medications in the first place. It is known from the literature that patients who participate in their care to a greater degree have better healthcare outcomes. Being knowledgeable about what they are taking, why they are taking it, and the most effective ways to take medication results in patients who are better able to help manage their own disease. The challenge here is twofold. First, how can we encourage patients to play a more active role in maintenance of their own health conditions and second, how can we assist patients in organizing their medications to reduce confusion and the chance for error so that they can play that more active role?There are many methods by which the first question is attempting to be answered. For the purposes of this proposal, we will focus on the use of an “Electronic Personal Health Record” or e-PHR for patient use. The e-PHR movement is gaining in popularity in the US, and there is a need to use user-centered design to build the e-PHR.Opessu, Abbott, & Bassler 3Since the e-PHR is designed for primary use by the patient, the user group therefore is thepatient, not the medical establishment. Our goal will be to design our prototype based on the needs of the patient as the primary user.Discussion of Previous Work/Studies with ReferencesBarnsteiner, Jane H. (2005). Medication Reconciliation. AJN. http://www.nursingcenter.comThis article discusses the errors of health records as they are currently implemented, and also looks at solutions and their pros and cons. The amount of errors involved with medical records is huge, according to the article. A number of paper solutions and EMR (electronic medical record) are discussed. The main problem of EMR, which our PHR will have to deal with, is user omissions. Apparently, both patientsand clinicians have a fair number of them.Endsley, S., C. Kibbe, D., Linares, A., Colorafi, K. (2006). An Introduction toPersonal Health Records. Family Practice Management. www.aafp.org/fpm, 57-62The article describes how the use of electronic PHR help patients on their medicine usage and also doctors so they don’t prescribe medicine that may be in conflict with a patient’s current medications or that the patient may be allergic to. The article emphasizes that the PHR should be stored electronically. This is because the aftereffects of Katrina when a lot of patient’s records were lost and patients seeking healthcare had no records which made it difficult for doctors to prescribe medications. This article relates to our project in the sense that patients prescription usage is recorded in our “MyMedMinder” implementation of the PHR. This supports the goal of our project. It will also assist doctors in prescribing appropriate medications.Gleason, Kristine M., Groszek, Jennifer M., Sullivan, Carol, Rooney, Denise, Barnard Cynthia, and Noskin, Gary A.(2004). Reconciliation of discrepancies in medication histories and admission orders of newly hospitalized patients Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2004; 61:1689-95The article talks about how having different medical records for each patient could be harmful. The study in the article focused on patients providing their medical history to doctors and then matching the information they give with records on file. The results were that there were discrepancies with the information given by patients and that recorded on file. The article proposes a universal medication form to encourage patients to keep track of their medication and allergy information. This relates to our project because we are trying to create an interface that encourages patients to keep records of their medicine usage and making the process of
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