Drug interaction warnings

How Carerealm checks for interactions between medications and what to do when one fires.

When you record a positive administration outcome (Given, Double-verified, etc.), Carerealm cross-checks the medication against everything else the supported person is currently prescribed. If a known interaction exists, a warning fires before the recording is accepted.

Severity tiers

Severity

Behaviour

Critical

Combination is contraindicated. Requires senior approval to override; the realm setting can also hard-block administration entirely.

Major

Significant risk. Override requires a reason.

Moderate

Default minimum severity shown. Warning + optional reason.

Minor

Information only. Often suppressed below the severity threshold.

Where the interactions come from

  • Built-in dictionary — a curated set of common drug-class interactions ships with Carerealm.

  • Realm-wide additions — admins can add custom interactions for their service in Admin → Settings → E-MAR defaults.

  • Per-{{area}} additions — moderators can add interactions specific to one supported person (e.g. recorded as part of their MAR).

Heads up — Carerealm's interaction checker is a safety net, not a clinical decision-support tool. It does not connect to DailyMed, BNF, NICE or any external drug database. Always defer to the prescriber.

Severity threshold setting

Each realm sets a minimum severity that surfaces warnings — default moderate. Interactions below this threshold are still recorded in audit logs but don't interrupt the recorder. Tune it in Settings → Patient Safety.

Overriding

When you override an interaction warning, the override goes to Override Logs with your name, the reason, and (for critical interactions) the senior who approved.

Last updated 21 May 2026 · by eMAR migration · Suggest a feature or change to this article
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