Opinions of clinicians towards use of computer applications for detecting drug-food interactions

Adverse events in hospitals are found to be a major problem of all health systems in the world. In fact, drug interaction side effects are now the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. The aim of the current study was to identify the opinions of clinicians working in Shariati and Emam hospitals towards the use of computer applications for detecting drug-food interactions. Ninety clinicians including physicians, pharmacists and nurses were selected randomly in the current descriptive- analytical study. The opinions of clinicians toward using computer application systems for detecting drug-food interactions were assessed by a questionnaire. The questionnaire's validity and repeatability was examined in a pilot study. Cronbach's alpha was 0.85 which indicated an acceptable level of repeatability of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among the academic staffs in order to determine its validity. 95.4% of clinicians had positive attitudes towards the requirement of computer application to detect drug-food interactions. Around 94% of them showed their willingness towards using the computer application systems. Therefore, use of computer application seems to be necessary in health system. The collection and analysis of data encourages further investments in computerized system to prevent drug-food interaction. Such built-in warning systems in hospitals alert doctors to drug-food interaction and improvement in patient care. Screening each patient's medication plan for drug-food interactions can reduce medical error and improve the quality of health care.