INXBASE, gravbase and lactbase for patients

Contents and idea

Patient oriented versions are available for drug interactions as well as for drugs in pregnancy and lactation. Importantly, the patient oriented versions are in full coherence with the databases designed for healthcare professionals to avoid any conflicts between the information given to the healthcare workers vs. patients.

INXBASE

In the patient-oriented version of the interaction database INXBASE, the general consequences of the interactions are described. The recommendation part is built so that the recommendation follows standard recommendation texts according to the classification of the clinical relevance of the interaction. The recommendation is focused on maintaining the patient-doctor relationship and, generally, the possible issues on drug interactions should always be discussed with the treating physician before any changes are made to the medication. Both prescription and over-the-counter drugs are covered as well as relevant drug-food interactions and interactions between drugs and natural medicines.

gravbase and lactbase

The patient oriented versions of gravbase and lactbase describes the safety issues related to the use of drugs during pregnancy and breast feeding. The safety for the mother and for the fetus/infant is evaluated at the different trimesters of pregnancy as relevant for the individual substances; also, illicit drugs, smoking, coffee, vitamins and minerals are covered. Also, in these databases the patient-doctor relationship is honoured and the classification based (A-D) standard recommendation texts in gravbase and lacbase point to the importance of discussing with the treating physician before any changes are made to the medication. For over-the-counter drugs also alternative choices of safer or better documented drugs are given.

Technical solution

The technical solution of patient version of INXBASE is identical to the professional version (see ‘Technical’ from the front page) except that the consequence and recommendation versions are combined to a single free text message and each interaction is characterised in a modular way by a standard phrase according to the classification set for clinical relevance (A-D). The technical solution of gravbase and lactbase are identical to the professional database versions. The high modularity of these databases allow the use of them for building of several different kind of user interfaces, e.g. portal or mobile solutions.