The Maastricht medication module

Currently the ICT departments working together in the Interuniversity Institute of Cardiology of the Netherlands are conducting a research project to conceive and build an Electronic Patient Record for CARdiology (EPD-CAR) In this paper one part of this project, MMM the module designed to archive all (cardiac) medication prescribed to a patient is discussed. This module not only forms a electronic patient medication file but also can be used to create new prescriptions, edit old ones and to generate all kind of overviews, like given medication, stopped medication, etc. to support optimal medical treatment. Apart from the features of the actual medication module, the integration of the module in Hospital or Departmental Information Systems is illustrated. Finally new options for research enabled by the use of such a uniform module to document prescribed medication are discussed.