Assessing the perspective of well-being of older patients with multiple morbidities by using the LAVA tool - a person-centered approach.

BACKGROUND: Older patients with multiple morbidities are a particularly vulnerable population that is likely to face complex medical decisions at some time in their lives. A patient-centered medical care fosters the inclusion of the patients' perspectives, priorities, and complaints into clinical decision making. METHODS: This article presents a short and non-normative assessment tool to capture the priorities and problems of older patients. The so-called LAVA ("Life and Vitality Assessment") tool was developed for practical use in seniors in the general population and for residents in nursing homes in order to gain more knowledge about the patients themselves as well as to facilitate access to the patients. The LAVA tool conceptualizes well-being from the perspectives of older individuals themselves rather than from the perspectives of outside individuals. RESULTS: The LAVA tool is graphically presented and the assessment is explained in detail. Exemplarily, the outcomes of the assessments with the LAVA of three multimorbid older patients are presented and discussed. In each case, the assessment pointed out resources as well as at least one problem area, rated as very important by the patients themselves. CONCLUSIONS: The LAVA tool is a short, non-normative, and useful approach that encapsulates the perspectives of well-being of multimorbid patients and gives insights into their resources and problem areas.

[Epidemiology and prevention of heat-related adverse health effects on elderly people]. / Epidemiologie und Prävention hitzebedingter Gesundheitsschäden älterer Menschen.

Heat waves increase the morbidity and mortality in Germany, particularly of older patients in need of care. Due to climate change the number of heat waves in Germany will increase threefold by the end of the century. In addition, the proportion of patients at risk will grow due to demographic change. Therefore, the Government and the Federal States have developed recommendations for heat action plans, in which the medical profession should also participate in the prevention of heat-related damage to health. Physicians and their team should first become acquainted with the topic. In addition, they should inform patients at risk and their relatives of the risks and preventive measures. In the summer a critical check of drugs is also needed because medications impair cooling mechanisms in heat waves, the pharmacokinetics can change and unwanted side effects of drugs occur more frequently. Lastly, due to their central position in the healthcare system, physicians should participate in the coordination of a good nursing care and intensification of social contacts during heat waves.

A randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of a medication plan containing drug administration recommendations on patients' drug knowledge after 2 months.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Patients' drug administration errors are often promoted by poor drug knowledge resulting from inadequate oral or written information. It has previously been shown that a medication plan enhanced with graphical and textual information on drug handling (enhanced medication plan) proved to immediately increase patients' drug knowledge. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the enhanced medication plan on drug knowledge in outpatients after 2 months (intervention group) compared to patients with a simple medication plan with standard information (control group). METHODS: We recruited patients using ≥5 drugs in four family practices in Germany. After inclusion, patients' knowledge on handling of their drugs was assessed using three questions from a standardized catalog. Thereafter, patients were randomized to the intervention or control group. After 2 months, drug knowledge was reassessed with three different questions from the same standardized catalog. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of 120 enrolled patients, 75% of participants in the control group (42/60 patients) and 78% of participants in the intervention group (46/60; P = 0·71) completed the study. Baseline drug knowledge was similar in both groups (43·7% vs. 40·6% correct answers). After 2 months, patients' drug knowledge showed an absolute increase of 23·2% in the intervention group (P < 0·01) and was unchanged in the control group (46·0%; P = 0·70). WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The enhanced medication plan outperformed the effect of a simple medication plan and persistently increased the fraction of correct answers of polypharmacy patients. This demonstrates that the enhanced medication plan may be a useful tool in promoting drug knowledge.

[Which Factors Affect Out-of-pocket Payments for Health Care Services Among Elderly Germans? Results of a Longitudinal Study]. / Welche Faktoren beeinflussen die privaten Zuzahlungen zu Gesundheitsleistungen im Alter? Ergebnisse einer Längsschnittstudie.

Background: In Germany, out-of-pocket payments (OOPP) account for a large proportion of total health expenditure. However, there are only few investigations on how morbidity-related, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors affect OOPP particularly in the older population. The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting OOPP for health care services among elderly Germans in a longitudinal setting. Methods: This longitudinal study used data from 2 follow-up waves (3-year interval) from a population-based prospective cohort study (ESTHER study) collected in Saarland, Germany. At the first follow-up wave, subjects were between 57 and 84 years old. Participants provided comprehensive data including individual OOPP for the preceding 3 months. Fixed effects (FE) regressions were used to determine factors affecting OOPP. Results: Mean individual OOPP (3-month period) rose from € 119 (first wave) to € 136 (second wave). Longitudinal regressions showed that higher morbidity did not affect OOPP. Moreover, changes in sociodemographic as well as lifestyle factors were not related to changes in OOPP. Solely, exemption of OOPP reduced the dependent variable significantly. Conclusion: In contrast to cross-sectional findings for Germany, OOPP are not related to morbidity and income in this study. This underlines the complex nature of OOPP in old age and the need for longitudinal studies to gain some insight into the underlying causal factors.

More than just crushing: a prospective pre-post intervention study to reduce drug preparation errors in patients with feeding tubes.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVES: Incorrect drug preparation for patients with feeding tubes can result in harm for the patient and the preparing person. Combined intervention programs are effective tools to reduce such preparation errors. However, to date, intervention programs have been mostly tested in hospitals with computerized physician order entry (CPOE), unit-dose systems, or ward-based clinical pharmacists. Hence, the primary objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an intervention program tailored to hospitals without such preconditions. METHODS: We conducted a prospective pre-/post-intervention study on a gastroenterological intensive care unit (ICU) and a surgical ward for oral, dental and maxillofacial diseases (surgical ward). During the study periods, observers documented and evaluated drug preparation processes of all peroral drugs for patients with feeding tubes. The primary endpoint was the rate of inappropriately crushed and/or suspended solid peroral drugs in regards to all solid peroral drugs. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Altogether, we evaluated 775 drug preparation processes of solid peroral drugs on the ICU and 975 on the surgical ward. The intervention program significantly reduced incorrect crushing and/or suspending of solid peroral drugs for administration to patients with feeding tubes from 9·8% to 4·2% (P < 0·01) on the ICU and from 5·7% to 1·4% (P < 0·01) on the surgical ward. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The implementation of the newly developed intervention program significantly reduced the rate of inappropriately prepared solid peroral drugs, suggesting that it is an effective measure to enable safe drug administration for inpatients with feeding tubes.

[Use and potential risks of over-the-counter analgesics]. / Gebrauch und potenzielle Risiken durch nicht verschreibungspflichtige Schmerzmittel.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: We investigated the use of prescription and non-prescription (over-the-counter, OTC) analgesics and the associated risks in elderly patients with multiple morbidities. METHODS: Pain medication use was evaluated from the baseline data (2008/2009) of the MultiCare cohort enrolling elderly patients with multiple morbidities who were treated by primary care physicians (trial registration: ISRCTN89818205). We considered opioids (N02A), other analgesics, and antipyretics (N02B) as well as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; M01A). OTC use, duplicate prescription, dosages, and interactions were examined for acetylsalicylic acid, diclofenac, (dex)ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetaminophen. RESULTS: Of 3,189 patients with multiple morbidities aged 65-85 years, 1,170 patients reported to have taken at least one prescription or non-prescription analgesic within the last 3 months (36.7 %). Of these, 289 patients (24.7 % of 1,170) took at least one OTC analgesic. Duplicate prescription was observed in 86 cases; 15 of these cases took the analgesics regularly. In two cases, the maximum daily dose of diclofenac was exceeded due to duplicate prescription. In 235 cases, patients concurrently took a drug with a potentially clinically relevant interaction. In 43 cases (18.3 % of 235) an OTC analgesic, usually ibuprofen, was involved. DISCUSSION: About one third of the elderly patients took analgesics regularly or as needed. Despite the relatively high use of OTC analgesics, the proportions of duplicate prescription, medication overdoses, and adverse interactions due to OTC products was low.

High plasma efavirenz level and CYP2B6*6 are associated with efavirenz-based HAART-induced liver injury in the treatment of naïve HIV patients from Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study.

The objective of this study was to assess the incidence, timing and identify pharmacogenetic, efavirenz (EFV) pharmacokinetic and biochemical predictors of EFV-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) drug-induced liver injury (DILI). ART-naïve HIV patients (n = 285) were prospectively enrolled. Pretreatment laboratory evaluations included hepatitis B surface antigen and C antibody, CD4 count and viral load. Liver tests were done at baseline, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 12th, 24th and 48th weeks during ART. Plasma EFV and 8-hydroxyefvairenz concentration was determined at week 4 using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. CYP2B6, CYP3A5, ABCB1 3435C/T and UGT2B7*2 genotyping was done using Taqman genotyping assay. Data were analyzed using survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards model. The incidence of DILI was 15.7% or 27.9 per 100 person-years and that of severe injury was 3.4% or 6.13 per 100 person-years. The median time for the development of DILI and severe injury was 2 and 4 weeks after initiation of ART, respectively. There was significant association of DILI with lower baseline platelet, albumin, log plasma viral load and CD4 count (P = 0.031, 0.037, 0.06 and 0.019, respectively). Elevated baseline alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, plasma EFV level and CYP2B6*6 were good predictors for the development of DILI (P = 0.03, 0.01, 0.016, 0.017 and 0.04, respectively). We report for the first time CYP2B6*6 as a putative genetic marker and high plasma EFV concentration as intermediate biomarker for vulnerability to EFV-induced liver injury in HIV patients. CYP2B6 genotyping and/or regular monitoring of EFV and lever enzymes level during early therapy is advised for early diagnosis and management of DILI.

Interaction of angiotensin receptor type 1 blockers with ATP-binding cassette transporters.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-transporters, such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1), multidrug resistance-associated proteins (MRPs/ABCCs) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) transport numerous drugs thus regulating their absorption, distribution and excretion. Angiotensin receptor type 1 blockers (ARBs), used to treat hypertension and heart failure, are commonly administered in combination therapy. However, their interaction potential is not well studied and their effect on ABC-transporters remains elusive. The study therefore aimed to elucidate the effect of various ARBs (telmisartan, candesartan, candesartan-cilexetil, irbesartan, losartan, olmesartan, olmesartan-medoxomil, eprosartan) on ABC-transporter activity in vitro. P-gp inhibition was assessed by calcein assay, BCRP inhibition by pheophorbide A efflux assay, and MRP2 inhibition by a MRP2 PREDIVEZ Kit. Induction of P-gp, BCRP and MRP2 was assessed by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and for P-gp also in a functional assay. Telmisartan was identified as one of the most potent inhibitors of P-gp currently known (IC(50)=0.38+/-0.2 microM for murine P-gp) and it also inhibited human BCRP (IC(50)=16.9+/-8.1 microM) and human MRP2 (IC(50)=25.4+/-0.6 microM). Moreover, the prodrug candesartan-cilexetil, but not candesartan itself, significantly inhibited P-gp and BCRP activity. None of the compounds tested induced mRNA transcription of P-gp or BCRP but eprosartan and olmesartan induced MRP2 mRNA expression. In conclusion, telmisartan substantially differed from other ARBs with respect to its potential to inhibit ABC-transporters relevant for drug pharmacokinetics and tissue defense. These findings may explain the known interaction of telmisartan with digoxin and suggest that it may modulate the bioavailability of drugs whose absorption is restricted by P-gp and possibly also by BCRP or MRP2.

[Drug interactions]. / Arzneimittelinteraktionen.

Drug-drug interactions can be used to enhance effectiveness but they are also a significant cause of adverse drug reactions. Alterations in liberation, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion may all affect the pharmacokinetics of a drug. Cytochrome P450 enzymes and drug transporters like ABC-transporters determine the clearance of many drugs leading to alterations in therapeutic effect. In contrast pharmacodynamic drug interactions will alter drug effects in the absence of concentration changes of the co-administered drug. Alterations of a drug effect may require changes in dose to maintain the therapeutic effect.

A systematic comparison of four different workup procedures for systematic toxicological analysis of urine samples using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Sample preparation for systematic toxicological screening analysis (STA) in urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) generally involves cleavage of conjugates by acid hydrolysis (Hy) or enzymatic hydrolysis (Gluc) followed by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) or solid-phase extraction (SPE), and derivatization, e.g., acetylation (Ac). LLE and derivatization can be performed simultaneously, e.g., in extractive methylation (ExMe). The work presented consisted of two separate studies. In study I, 350 urine samples from 168 inpatients from an internal medicine ward were worked up by Hy-LLE-Ac, the standard workup in the authors' laboratory, Gluc-SPE-Ac, and Gluc-ExMe. In study II, 100 urine samples from psychiatric inpatients were worked up by Hy-LLE-Ac and Hy-SPE-Ac. The samples prepared were analyzed by full-scan GC-MS, and the drugs and/or their metabolites/artifacts detected after the different workup procedures were compared. The results obtained after Hy-LLE-Ac and Gluc-SPE-Ac showed only little differences, e.g., salicylic acid not being detectable with the latter. Hy-SPE-Ac covered a similar range of analytes as Hy-LLE-Ac but was much more time-consuming. Comparison of Hy-LLE-Ac and Gluc-ExMe showed that the former was better suited for basic drugs and the latter for acidic drugs, but the overlap was considerable. In conclusion, Hy-LLE-Ac remains the method of choice for STA in clinical toxicology owing to its wide analyte spectrum and short workup time. Gluc-ExMe is an ideal complementary method when acidics need to be covered. Gluc-SPE-Ac can be used as an alternative to Hy-LLE-Ac when turnaround is not critical or when automated analysis is required.

[Patient recruitment in clinical studies]. / Die richtige Rekrutierung von Studienteilnehmern.

Patient recruitment in clinical studies is an essential step early in a drug trial. The quality of this process determines the safety of the trial and may modulate the validity of the resulting scientific information. While there are good reasons to recruit participants as quickly as possible to accelerate drug development and promote new treatment options, it is even more important to safeguard health and well-being of the participant. Therefore all steps of recruitment from patient identification and patient availability to patient information and enrolment have to be tailored accordingly. This paper describes the numerous challenges in this task, pitfalls and risks that may jeopardize reliable and effective recruitment, and strategies to improve this important process.

[Patient safety based on computer-assisted drug therapy. Electronic check-up of the patient]. / Patientensicherheit durch computerbasierte Arzneimittelinformationen. Der Patient im elektronischen Check-up.

Patients in internal medicine frequently experience adverse drug events. Many of those events, however, are avoidable because they are caused by medication errors, which are particularly frequent in drug prescribing. Therefore, practical concepts are needed to make the rapidly growing knowledge on drugs available already during prescription. But also when deviations from standards are intended access to up-to-date information is required. Computer-based systems can offer support for prescribing clinicians to meet these claims and thus improve the quality of pharmacotherapy. To reach this goal, such systems have to be interlinked among each other and with systems of primary, secondary, and tertiary care. They must be based on scientific published evidence and should consider as many factors as possible for individualization of drug therapy. Individualization and focusing on relevant information are prerequisites to prevent inappropriate alerts (over-alerting) and thus to increase acceptance in practical use.

Association of generalized anxiety symptoms and panic with health care costs in older age-Results from the ESTHER cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known specifically about the association between generalized anxiety symptoms or panic and health care costs in older age. The aim of this study was to examine the association between generalized anxiety symptoms, panic and health care costs in people aged 65 and over. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the 8-year follow-up of a large, prospective cohort study, the ESTHER study, was used. Individuals aged 65 and over, who participated in the study's home assessment, were included in this analysis (n = 2348). Total and sectoral costs were analyzed as a function of either anxiety symptoms, probable panic disorder, or a panic attack, while controlling for selected covariates, using Two Part and Generalized Linear Models. Covariates were chosen based on Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Care Use. RESULTS: There was no significant association between either of the anxiety or panic measures and total health care costs. Stratified by health care sectors, only the occurrence of a panic attack was significantly associated with incurring costs for outpatient non-physician services (OR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.15-3.45) and inpatient services (OR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.07-4.28). Other illness-related factors, such as comorbidities and depressive symptoms, were associated with health care costs in several models. LIMITATIONS: This was a cross-sectional study relying on self-reported data. CONCLUSION: This study points to an association between a panic attack and sector-specific health care costs in people aged 65 and over. Further research, especially using longitudinal data, is needed.

Clinical diagnosis of malaria and the risk of chloroquine self-medication in rural health centres in Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of healthcare workers' performance with regard to malaria diagnosis and treatment and to assess patients' self-medication with chloroquine (CQ) before and after presentation at a health centre. METHODS: In the rainy season 2004, in five rural dispensaries in Burkina Faso, we observed 1101 general outpatient consultations and re-examined all these patients. CQ whole blood concentrations of confirmed malaria cases were measured before and after treatment. RESULTS: The clinical diagnosis based on fever and/or a history of fever had a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 41% when compared to confirmed malaria (defined as an axillary temperature of >/=37.5 degrees C and/or a history of fever and parasites of any density in the blood smear). Few febrile children under 5 years of age were assessed for other diseases than malaria such as pneumonia. No antimalarial was prescribed for 1.3% of patients with the clinical diagnosis malaria and for 24% of confirmed cases, while 2% received an antimalarial drug prescription without the corresponding clinical diagnosis. CQ was overdosed in 22% of the prescriptions. Before and 2 weeks after consultation, 25% and 46% respectively of the patients with confirmed malaria had potentially toxic CQ concentrations. CONCLUSION: As long as artemisinin-based combination therapy remains unavailable or unaffordable for most people in rural areas of Burkina Faso, self-medication with and prescription of CQ are likely to continue despite increasing resistance. Apart from considering more pragmatic first-line regimens for malaria treatment such as the combination of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine with amodiaquine, more and better training on careful clinical management of febrile children including an appropriate consideration of other illnesses than malaria should be made available in the frame of the IMCI initiative in sub-Saharan Africa.

Patient knowledge on oral anticoagulants: results of a questionnaire survey in Germany and comparison with the literature.

OBJECTIVE: In order to use their drugs reliably, safely and correctly patients need to be well informed about their treatment, which applies in particular to critical dose drugs. The aim of this study was to investigate the patients' knowledge on anticoagulants, and to identify patient characteristics associated with low knowledge. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Based on the Patient Information Leaflet, an 8-item multiple-choice test was developed, pre-tested and adapted. The final version was assessed in terms of readability and distributed to 59 anticoagulated medical inpatients of a German university hospital. The scoring range was 0 â 8 points (each correct answer giving 1 point). RESULTS: The total knowledge level ranged between 12.5% and 87.5% (1/8 â 7/8 points) with an average of 55% (mean 4.4 A+/- 1.4 points). The topics most often answered not correctly included drug-drug and drug-food interactions. The statistical analysis of the association between knowledge on each topic and patient characteristic revealed a significant correlation between knowledge on drug-drug interactions and the patient's education (Mann--Whitney-U-test: p = 0.032) and age (r = -0.34; p = 0.015). There was no significant correlation between the total test score and any of the patient characteristics. CONCLUSION: Healthcare professionals need to be aware that patients on oral anticoagulants may have significant knowledge gaps, particularly concerning drug-drug and drug-food interactions. In practice, the questionnaire, which was short, easy to read, and well accepted, might be used to identify the patients' knowledge and individual knowledge gaps in order to subsequently tailor information to their needs.

The NTCP-inhibitor Myrcludex B: Effects on Bile Acid Disposition and Tenofovir Pharmacokinetics.

Myrcludex B acts as a hepatitis B and D virus entry inhibitor blocking the sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (SLC10A1). We investigated the effects of myrcludex B on plasma bile acid disposition, tenofovir pharmacokinetics, and perpetrator characteristics on cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A. Twelve healthy volunteers received 300 mg tenofovir disoproxil fumarate orally and 10 mg subcutaneous myrcludex B. Myrcludex B increased total plasma bile acid exposure 19.2-fold without signs of cholestasis. The rise in conjugated bile acids was up to 124-fold (taurocholic acid). Coadministration of tenofovir with myrcludex B revealed no relevant changes in tenofovir pharmacokinetics. CYP3A activity slightly but significantly decreased by 29% during combination therapy. Myrcludex B caused an asymptomatic but distinct rise in plasma bile acid concentrations and had no relevant impact on tenofovir pharmacokinetics. Changes in CYP3A activity might be due to alterations in bile acid signaling. Long-term effects of elevated bile acids will require critical evaluation.

CYP3A5 genotype has an impact on the metabolism of the HIV protease inhibitor saquinavir.

CYP3A is the main enzyme subfamily involved in the metabolism of the HIV protease-inhibitor saquinavir. We hypothesized that individuals homozygous for CYP3A5*1 might have a higher oral clearance of saquinavir, compared with subjects lacking functional CYP3A5 alleles. A single-dose pharmacokinetic trial of saquinavir soft gel capsules, 1,200 mg, was performed in 16 black Tanzanian healthy volunteers with two functional CYP3A5 alleles (*1/*1) and in 18 volunteers without functional CYP3A5 alleles (both alleles being either *3, *6, or *7). The median area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC)0-24 reached among subjects with two functional alleles was 1,410 ng h/ml (interquartile range (IQR) 826-1,929), whereas it was 2,138 ng h/ml (IQR 1,380-3,331) in subjects without (P=0.0533, Mann-Whitney U-test). The median ratio of saquinavir over its M2 plus M3 hydroxy metabolites in urine was 64 (IQR 52-73) in subjects with two functional alleles, whereas it was 145 (IQR 89-181) in those without (P=0.000078, Mann-Whitney U-test). In conclusion, saquinavir is metabolized by CYP3A5. The median AUC0-24 for saquinavir among individuals with two functional CYP3A5 alleles was 34% lower than among those with no functional alleles. To clarify the clinical importance of the CYP3A5 polymorphism, further studies should be conducted on saquinavir, dosed to steady state, in the presence of ritonavir boosting.

Reduction in non-glomerular renal clearance of the caffeine metabolite 1-methylxanthine by probenecid.

OBJECTIVE: Urinary caffeine metabolic ratios used to quantify the activity of numerous drug-metabolizing enzymes are an established component of cocktail approaches for metabolic phenotyping. Because in vitro evidence suggests that 1-methylxanthine (1-MX), a major caffeine metabolite, is actively secreted into urine by organic anion transporters (hOATs), coadministration of renal hOAT inhibitors like probenecid may impair these procedures. METHODS: In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design, single oral doses of 300 mg caffeine with oral coadministration of placebo or 500 mg probenecid 3 times daily for 2 days were administered to 7 healthy men. The plasma and urine concentrations of caffeine and its major metabolites 1,7-dimethylxanthine (1,7-DMX) and 1-MX were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Coadministration of probenecid resulted in a 34% reduction of the renal clearance of 1-MX (mean +/- SD 190 +/- 42 versus 290 +/- 83 ml min(-1), 95% CI on difference 0.2, 200, p = 0.04) with a 41% reduction in its estimated non-glomerular clearance. The renal clearances of caffeine and 1,7-DMX and the area under the plasma concentration-time curves of all substances were not significantly changed. CONCLUSIONS: 1-MX undergoes renal tubular secretion which is substantially reduced by probenecid, possibly due to inhibition of renal hOATs. This inhibition may explain the influence of probenecid on urinary caffeine metabolic ratios and, thus, its impact on the assessment of enzyme activities. It also suggests that 1-MX might serve as a model substrate for the renal tubular transport of organic anions.

Standardized documentation of drug recommendations in discharge letters--a contribution to quality management in cooperative care.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the necessity and potential usefulness of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system in supporting the writing of pharmacotherapeutic recommendations in discharge letters. METHODS: Systematic analysis of drug recommendations in discharge letters of a hospital providing tertiary care, structured interviews with in-hospital prescribers, and focus groups with general practitioners who admit patients to this hospital. RESULTS: We analyzed 1800 randomly selected discharge letters, 1205 of which contained pharmacotherapeutic recommendations. The frequencies, structure, and quality of these recommendations varied considerably between departments. Nearly 16% of the recommendations contained both proprietary (brand) and non-proprietary names (active ingredient). Interviewed clinicians expressed interest in CPOE systems that check for contraindications and interactions between drugs, suggest cheaper products, and automatically insert active ingredients when omitted. The focus group sessions confirmed that the pharmacotherapeutic recommendations in current discharge letters do not effectively support daily clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: Documenting active ingredients as well as brand names in drug therapy recommendations is currently not part of clinical practice. Computerized decision support can help to optimise the structure and communication of therapeutic information across interfaces and can be a quality factor with considerable influence on process quality, outcome quality, and costs of cooperative patient care.