Effect of Collaborative Review of Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes for Shared Reporting in Breast Cancer Patients: Descriptive Comparative Study.

Background: Digital monitoring of treatment-related symptoms and self-reported patient outcomes is important for the quality of care among cancer patients. As mobile devices are ubiquitous nowadays, the collection of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) is gaining momentum. So far, data are lacking on the modalities that contribute to the quantity and quality of ePROs.

Medication as a risk factor for hospitalization due to heart failure and shock: a series of case-crossover studies in Swiss claims data.

Purpose: Heart failure is among the leading causes for hospitalization in Europe. In this study, we evaluate potential precipitating factors for hospitalization for heart failure and shock.

Methods: Using Swiss claims data (2014-2015), we evaluated the association between hospitalization for heart failure and shock, and prescription of oral potassium supplements, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.

Prediction of health care expenditure increase: how does pharmacotherapy contribute?

Background: Rising health care costs are a major public health issue. Thus, accurately predicting future costs and understanding which factors contribute to increases in health care expenditures are important. The objective of this project was to predict patients healthcare costs development in the subsequent year and to identify factors contributing to this prediction, with a particular focus on the role of pharmacotherapy.

Analysis of Drug-Drug Interactions in Swiss Claims Data Using Tizanidine and Ciprofloxacin as a Prototypical Contraindicated Combination.

Background: Potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) are described in various case reports, but few studies have evaluated the impact of specific combinations on a population level.

Objective: To analyze the type and frequency of multiple contraindicated (X-pDDIs) and major interactions (D-pDDIs) and to subsequently assess the impact of the particular combination of tizanidine and ciprofloxacin on outpatient physician visits and hospitalizations.

Methods: Anonymized Swiss claims data from 524 797 patients in 2014-2015 were analyzed.

A Mobile App to Stabilize Daily Functional Activity of Breast Cancer Patients in Collaboration With the Physician: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: The well-being of breast cancer patients and reporting of adverse events require close monitoring. Mobile apps allow continuous recording of disease- and medication-related symptoms in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a mobile app on patient-reported daily functional activity in a supervised and unsupervised setting.

Pre-hospital medications in total hip arthroplasty: risk factors for poor outcomes.

Introduction: The influence of co-morbidities on complication rates and length of hospitalisation after surgery is well recognised. Clinical instruments predicting this influence, are of increasing interest. We sought to determine whether a count of a patient's preoperative pharmaceuticals would be associated to postoperative outcomes.

Risks of inflammatory bowel disease treatment with glucocorticosteroids and aminosalicylates.

Background: Glucocorticosteroids and aminosalicylates, mainly mesalazine (5-ASA), are both standard therapeutics in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. The glucocorticosteroids are highly effective in inducing remission in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, but their use is limited by the high incidence and the potentially serious nature of adverse events. In an attempt to limit systemic side effects, rapidly metabolized corticosteroids such as budesonide have been introduced.

[Thrombocyte aggregation inhibitors: what are the risks?].

The most common risks related to platelet inhibitor therapy are bleeding, drug-drug interactions and therapeutic failure. The new substances prasugrel and ticagrelor are more potent platelet inhibitiors than clopidogrel. This reduces the incidence of ischemic events, but also potentially increases the bleeding risk.

Validation of a transparent decision model to rate drug interactions.

Background: Multiple databases provide ratings of drug-drug interactions. The ratings are often based on different criteria and lack background information on the decision making process. User acceptance of rating systems could be improved by providing a transparent decision path for each category.

Drug-related problems and factors influencing acceptance of clinical pharmacologists` alerts in a large cohort of neurology inpatients.

Questions Under Study/principles: Data regarding the prevalence and types of drug-related problems (DRPs) among neurology inpatients is sparse. The objective of this study was to characterise the types of DRPs seen among neurology inpatients and furthermore to study factors affecting the acceptance of clinical pharmacologists' and pharmacists' recommendations for improving drug safety.

Methods: 1,263 consecutive inpatient cases in a Swiss university hospital neurology unit were assessed for the presence of DRPs over 12 months.

Comparative evaluation of three clinical decision support systems: prospective screening for medication errors in 100 medical inpatients.

Purpose: Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are promoted as powerful screening tools to improve pharmacotherapy. The aim of our study was to evaluate the potential contribution of CDSS to patient management in clinical practice.

Methods: We prospectively analyzed the pharmacotherapy of 100 medical inpatients through the parallel use of three CDSS, namely, Pharmavista, DrugReax, and TheraOpt.

Performance of different data sources in identifying adverse drug events in hospitalized patients.

Purpose: The incidence of adverse drug events (ADE) is an important parameter in determining the quality of medical care. We identified the probability that a specific data source would identify ADEs in patients on the oncology ward, that could be assigned to one substance.

Methods: We captured all medical adverse events (AE) from five different data sources.

Phynx: an open source software solution supporting data management and web-based patient-level data review for drug safety studies in the general practice research database and other health care databases.

Purpose: To develop a software solution that supports management and clinical review of patient data from electronic medical records databases or claims databases for pharmacoepidemiological drug safety studies.

Methods: We used open source software to build a data management system and an internet application with a Flex client on a Java application server with a MySQL database backend. The application is hosted on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.