MIMS online - more than just a reference tool

MIMS Online offers more than just medicines information. You can also check for drug interactions and identify loose tablets with a click of a button.

With medicines being the most common health therapy in Australia, there is a risk of error and harm to patients. In any given two week period, 9 in 10 older Australians will have taken at least one medicine. A 2011 report from the ACSQHC stated that almost 1.5 million Australians every year will experience an adverse medicines event, resulting in 400,000 GP visits and 190,000 hospital admissions. It was found that approximately 2–3% of all hospital admissions are medication-related and, of those, approximately 50% are preventable. The cost is significant with estimates for medicine-related hospital admissions in 2008 at $660 million.¹

So why not make sure your medication decisions will not contribute to an adverse medicines event and help reduce these alarming numbers.

Checking for drug interactions

The MIMS Drug Interaction module found in MIMS Online is available for checking drug-drug interactions for single or multiple medicines.

By selecting a single medicine to check, Drug Interaction will display all known interactions according to our extensive, evidence-based research. Users can either browse through the list given or add another medicine for specific interactions between the drugs listed.

For each result, there is a summary of the interaction, including the interacting drug, a severity rating, the level of supporting documentation and a brief statement outlining the nature of the interaction. By scrolling down, much greater detail about the interaction is provided, including:

• Probable mechanism.


• Actions to take.


• References for the interaction.

Our editors, using primary literature sources, continuously check and update this extensive evidence-based database of drug interactions ensuring that you are armed with the most recent information.

When next in MIMS Online – check it out!

Drug Interactions has several features worth noting:

1. Limit search results by Severity Level and/or Documentation Level.


2. Click on the table headings to sort results by Interacting Molecule, Severity, Documentation Level or Route of Administration.


3. Click on Add/Remove Drugs to search for drug-drug interactions between particular brands or generics.

You can also search for multiple drugs by adding drugs in the search box as follows:

Neomycin AND Cyclosporin.

Checking pill identity

Imagine a patient has arrived at the Emergency Department semi-conscious, having overdosed on an unidentified tablet. Fortunately, there was a tablet with the patient when he arrived.

“It took nearly 20 minutes for us to find what the tablet was that the patient overdosed on,” said the staff at a recent MIMS Online training session.

Our trainer was able to show the Emergency Department team how to use MIMS Online’s Pill ID Advanced Search functionality and identified the tablet in just 0.008 seconds.

For more information on how to use the additional benefits of MIMS Online visit www.mims.com.au, find MIMS Online under the product tab and select training for a comprehensive training video.

If you would like to book an in-house or web-based training for your team, please contact helen.gilmour@mims.com.au for more information.

So for safer use of medicines, take advantage of all that MIMS Online has to offer. It could save a life!

Reference

1. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care(2011) “Windows into Safety and Quality in Health Care 2011” ACSQHC Sydney