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This study was aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate an incompatible drug screening program. Sixty-six incompatible drug combinations and 13 contraindicatory drugs for specific ages, which have been used in Asan Medical Center since 2003, were targeted according to the 1st (2004) and 2nd (2005) notifications of ‘Incompatible and specified age limits on medications’ by the Health Insurance Review Agency. Our hospital drug screening system was programmed to generate alert in the situation with incompatible drug combinations or contraindicatory drugs for specific ages. During study period, the alert system fired 5,782 times, of which 5,033 and 749 times were for incompatible drug combinations and contraindicatory drugs for specific ages, respectively. The overall alert firings have been reduced since the screening program implemented; 0.017, 0.006 and 0.004% in 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively, for the incompatible drug combinations based on the 1st notification. Among the combinations of incompatible drugs, the combination of ketorolac and aceclofenac was observed most frequently (75.4%), followed by 80 cases (6.6%) of amitriptyline-selegiline and 56 cases (4.6%) of aspirin-methotrexate. The contraindicatory drugs for specific ages ranked in the order of ketorolac 250 cases, topiramate 221 cases, and lorazepam cases. Clinicians can use hospital drug screening systems to detect opportunities to prevent patient injury secondary to incompatible drug combinations or contraindicatory drug prescription for specific ages.
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