Title: Agent-based coupling of pharmacoinformatics

Authors: Tagelsir Mohamed Gasmelseid

Addresses: Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Sciences & IT, King Faisal University, Al Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) have been a source for many medical problems and a direct reason for the deterioration of patient outcomes. Therefore, the provision of reliable information about them looms very big. The acquisition, processing and sharing of reaction-related real-time information in Saudi healthcare organisations is challenged by three factors: (a) the inefficiency of spontaneous reporting systems, (b) the difficulty of promoting self reporting by patients and (c) the failure to incorporate socially-generated information. This study investigates the processes used for the acquisition, processing and use of reactions-specific information. The study showed that current information systems have no applications dedicated for detecting, signalling and integration of reactions-related information. This study proposes an agent-based pharmacoinformatics framework to promote self-reporting of information by different stakeholders.

Keywords: pharmacoinformatics; software agents; pharmaceutical care; information management; adverse drug reactions; social networks; agent-based systems; multi-agent systems; MAS; Saudi Arabia; spontaneous reporting; patient self reporting; socially-generated information; healthcare information systems; adverse reactions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIM.2013.059972

International Journal of Intercultural Information Management, 2013 Vol.3 No.4, pp.305 - 323

Received: 21 Mar 2013
Accepted: 20 Feb 2014
Published online: 22 Mar 2014 *

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