The RxNorm standard clinical drug vocabulary, produced by the National Library of Medicine, now contains more accurate and complete connections between National Drug Codes and standard nonproprietary names of medications recommended for use in electronic health records, which can boost clinical decision support and patient safety, according to an NIH news release.
The vocabulary includes NDCs of First DataBank, the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Multum and Gold Standard drug information. RxNorm vocabulary creates standard names and identifiers for the combinations of ingredients, strengths and dose forms of U.S. drugs. This is the information physicians typically include when they write a prescription because they often can't know the specific product that will be used to fill it.
All medication products that contain the same active ingredients, the same strengths and the same dose forms have the same RxNorm standard name. This standard name is connected to other information in RxNorm that can be used within EHR systems to improve patient safety, including the use of an NDC on a medicine bottle to speed standard data entry or to trigger an alert written in the RxNorm standard that could prevent a medication error.
Read the government news release about RxNorm.
Read other coverage about clinical decision support:
- CMA Launches Demo to Test Whether Clinical Support Systems Result in Appropriate Imaging Use
- Study Suggests Clinical Decision Support Can Prevent Unnecessary Imaging
- ONC to Establish "Communities of Practice" for Clinical Decision Support Technology
The vocabulary includes NDCs of First DataBank, the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Multum and Gold Standard drug information. RxNorm vocabulary creates standard names and identifiers for the combinations of ingredients, strengths and dose forms of U.S. drugs. This is the information physicians typically include when they write a prescription because they often can't know the specific product that will be used to fill it.
All medication products that contain the same active ingredients, the same strengths and the same dose forms have the same RxNorm standard name. This standard name is connected to other information in RxNorm that can be used within EHR systems to improve patient safety, including the use of an NDC on a medicine bottle to speed standard data entry or to trigger an alert written in the RxNorm standard that could prevent a medication error.
Read the government news release about RxNorm.
Read other coverage about clinical decision support:
- CMA Launches Demo to Test Whether Clinical Support Systems Result in Appropriate Imaging Use
- Study Suggests Clinical Decision Support Can Prevent Unnecessary Imaging
- ONC to Establish "Communities of Practice" for Clinical Decision Support Technology