Combining multiple healthcare databases for postmarketing drug and vaccine safety surveillance: why and how?

A growing number of international initiatives (e.g. EU-ADR, Sentinel, OMOP, PROTECT and VAESCO) are based on the combined use of multiple healthcare databases for the conduct of active surveillance studies in the area of drug and vaccine safety.

Is population-oriented IT supported preventive care in general practice feasible? A database study.

Background: Introducing a clinical decision support system (CDSS) in general practice that provides broad support based on all available guidelines for preventive care might dramatically increase the workload of a general practitioner.

Aim: We evaluated the potential effect on workload of a CDSS that aims to support the whole breadth of preventive guidelines currently used in The Netherlands.

Methods: We analysed the guidelines of the Dutch college of General Practitioners (DCGP) for preventive activities, developed a CDSS based on the guidelines and studied the behaviour of the system on real patient data.

Postmarketing surveillance based on electronic patient records: the IPCI project.

Researchers claim that data in electronic patient records can be used for a variety of purposes including individual patient care, management, and resource planning for scientific research. Our objective in the project Integrated Primary Care Information (IPCI) was to assess whether the electronic patient records of Dutch general practitioners contain sufficient data to perform studies in the area of postmarketing surveillance studies. We determined the data requirements for postmarketing surveillance studies, implemented additional software in the electronic patient records of the general practitioner, developed an organization to monitor the use of data, and performed validation studies to test the quality of the data.