- Synapse Medicine clinical decision support technology analyzes drug-related risks based on each patient’s clinical characteristics and will be studied for its impact on inpatient pharmacist efficacy and efficiency.
- The Synapse Medicine medication reconciliation tool will be deployed through an integration with the hospitals’ current EPIC EHR workflow.
- The study also has potential to provide improvements to medication regimen appropriateness which helps reduce risk of ADEs in hospital and after discharge.
Technology-based clinical decision support creates efficiencies and improves patient outcomes
Synapse Medicine, a leader in intelligent medication decision technology, announced today it has initiated a clinical study with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN to measure the benefits and efficacy of its clinical decision support solution and its medication reconciliation software in a hospital setting. The principal investigator is Dr. Jeffrey L. Schnipper, MD, MPH, MHM, of the Brigham’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care and the Hospital Medicine Unit, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The study, “Effect of Synapse Medicine Decision Support on Inpatient Pharmacist Efficacy and Efficiency: A Hybrid Type 2 Implementation Study,” engages hospital pharmacists at two study sites who round with general medicine service teams and approve inpatient medications. Participants will use Synapse Medicine point-of-care tools to analyze drug-related risks and optimize medication appropriateness. They will also perform medication reconciliation for newly admitted patients. The study will measure the usability of Synapse Medicine AI-driven clinical decision support and medication reconciliation tools quantitatively and qualitatively to determine their impact.
Leveraging real-time data for medication regimen appropriateness
Healthcare systems have long been challenged by the task of drug regimen optimization, a critical aspect in a patient’s continuity of care. An inaccurate medication history or inappropriate drug therapy can burden care-providers’ efficiency, delay treatment, put patients at risk for preventable adverse drug events (ADEs), and contribute to higher readmission rates. Hospital-related ADEs are frequent and dangerous, and their management has been estimated to cost US$28 billion annually.1
“Hospitalized patients often come to us on suboptimal medication regimens, especially too many medications. But we also encounter medications that react with each other, incorrect doses based on their kidney function, or medications that are inappropriate based on their many medical conditions,” said Schnipper. “At the same time that we are treating patients’ acute medical conditions, we also owe it to them to address these longer-standing medication issues and make sure we don’t introduce any new medication-related problems before they return home.”
“Optimizing a patient’s medication regimen can be a time-consuming and complicated process, but it is fundamental to ensuring patient safety and therapeutic success,” shared Dr. Clement Goehrs, Synapse Medicine CEO and Co-Founder. “Collaborating with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center allows us to demonstrate how our medication decision support technology improves accuracy and streamlines processes creating more time for actual patient care and bringing value to all stakeholders.”
Synapse Medicine solutions are built on a technology platform that uses machine learning and natural language processing. It combines real-time drug knowledge with clinical data to detect potential medication risks and discrepancies that can lead to ADEs. The suite of clinical decision support tools enables healthcare professionals to provide enhanced personalized care for patients. The study will evaluate the prescription analysis, drug monograph and medication reconciliation solutions for efficiency and accuracy.
About Synapse Medicine
At Synapse Medicine, we believe in medication success, and are dedicated to making it possible for everyone.
To achieve this goal, we have built an extensive, global medication knowledge base using algorithms to ensure the most reliable, up-to-date data. On the front-end, Synapse Medicine provides a SaaS platform and UI components that are used to prescribe, dispense, and manage medications across the entire patient journey.
At Synapse Medicine, we are working with world-leading hospitals and digital health companies in the United States, Europe and Japan to transform today’s medication regimens into tomorrow’s medication success.
Press contact: Ingrid Graff-Cailleaud, US Marketing ; +33 6 63 57 36 34 ; press@synapse-medicine.com
1. Weiss, A.J., Freeman, W.J., Heslin, K.C. and Barrett, M.L., 2018. Adverse drug events in US hospitals, 2010 versus 2014. HCUP Statistical Brief, 234.
