🎞️ View video tutorial: Viewing interaction alerts
When you prescribe or refill a medication, the CHR checks the Canadian Vigilance Santé database for any drug-drug, drug-allergy, or duplicate medication interactions.
Any interactions appear in the Alerts area of the prescription window, with the most severe alerts at the top of the list. Alerts are for informational purposes only; they do not prevent you from prescribing.
Any medications or allergies that are not included in the analysis are flagged. When prescribing or recording a medication allergy, you should always try to select a medication with a DIN number so that it can be included in the interaction checks.
📌 Note: If a patient is no longer taking a medication, but the medication is listed in the patient’s active medications list, discontinue the medication. This way, you will not receive interaction warnings against irrelevant medications.
Steps
1. After you search for and select a medication to prescribe, alerts appear in a panel to the right. The total number of alerts is displayed along with a brief description of each alert. You can also see the patient's allergies and their current medications.
💡 Tip: The date the Vigilance Santé database was last updated displays at the top of the alerts panel.
The alerts are ordered by severity. There are 3 levels of alerts:
Level 1 alerts are severe interactions, and appear with a red icon. You should avoid prescribing this medication, as the benefit does not outweigh risk.
Level 2 alerts are moderate interactions, and appear with an orange icon. If possible, you should avoid prescribing this medication. If you do prescribe this medication, increased monitoring or other mitigations may be necessary.
Level 3 alerts are minor interactions, and appear with a grey icon. Assess the risk and take any necessary actions.
📌 Note: If a medication or allergy was not included in the interaction check, a warning appears at the top of the alerts panel. Not included in analysis appears in red beside the specific medication or allergy that was not included. This can happen if, for example, you recorded a medication without a DIN.
💡 Tip: You can customize which alerts you see in the CHR. For example, you may choose to see only Level 1 and Level 2 alerts. For more information, see Customizing interaction alerts.
2. Click an alert to view more information about it, or click the Full Report button. The Vigilance Santé website opens in your web browser, showing the details of the alert(s). For more information on using the Vigilance Santé website, see Navigating the Vigilance Santé website.
3. Manage the interactions appropriately. Regardless of the level of alert, you are not prevented from prescribing. It is your responsibility to manage the interactions - for example, you may choose to prescribe a different medication or discontinue one of the patient's existing medications.
4. Click Close or Save in the prescription window when you are finished, and close the Vigilance Santé website if you opened it.
Updated September 24, 2021