Medication Surveillance in older patients clinical decision support as the next step in medication safety

Elderly patients are more likely to experience complications from prescription drug use as a result of having multiple diseases (multimorbidity) and taking five or more medications per day (polypharmacy). This dissertation found that, although healthcare providers (doctors and pharmacists) understand the importance of adequate drug monitoring, this is not being implemented in a uniform way and heavy workloads play a major role in the ability to adequately assess drug use. This study also found that only one-third to half of all medication errors are detected. A software program called the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) supports healthcare providers in drug monitoring and is proving to be a promising intervention. This dissertation forms the basis of the continued optimisation of CDSS and its implementation in daily practice.