Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have developed a new iPhone application to engage healthcare practitioners and the public in issues on drug safety. The application, "MedWatcher," allows users to track the latest drug safety updates provided by official alerts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as news updates.
MedWatcher incorporates information about thousands of medications listed in FDA databases, and enables users to customize the app based on their medications of interest. As drugs are selected, users are able to view alerts that have been generated by the FDA, create news feeds, and set preferences to receive future alerts about those medications. Also, users are able to see reviews by patients and providers.
Recognizing that the data contained in the app will be coming from official and unofficial sources, users are encouraged to interpret the data appropriately.
Whether or not this app helps reduce the number of medication errors remains to be seen. However, medication errors do occur, which, in turn, could lead to a medical malpractice claim. If you or a family member has been victimized by a medication error, call Dr. Bruce G. Fagel for a free case evaluation. As an attorney who is also a licensed medical doctor, he has a track record of success in pursuing these types of claims. Call him at 800/541-9376 or visit his website at www.medicalmalpracticedoctorlawyer.com.
