Analysis of Reported Drug Interactions: A Recipe for Harm to Patients
Adult patients admitted to a hospital often receive a lot of medications. The use of multiple medications
can lead to drug interactions that occur prior to administration or after ingestion or injection
(Pennsylvania, 2018). The severity of drug interactions was classified as major, moderate, minor, and
contraindicated. Major is when they may be threatening, require medical intervention to minimize or
prevent serious adverse drug events, or both. Moderate is when they may result in the exacerbation of the
patient’s condition, require therapy modification, or both. Minor is when they could have minor clinical
effects without requiring changes to the drug therapy. And Contraindicated is when the benefit of the
combination of a drug and another drug, comorbid condition, or procedure does not outweigh the risk
(e.g. aspirin is contraindicated for kids with viral infections because it increases the risk of Reye’s
syndrome) (Castilho et al., 2018).
