Stockley’s Interactions Checker

Drug interaction checker FAQs

What is a drug interaction checker and how do you use it?

A drug interaction checker is a tool that can be used to find out what happens when certain drugs are given together. This is helpful for clinicians when patients are prescribed a combination of medications, and they need to know if this combination is safe to use.

Stockley’s Interactions Checker provides this information, along with actionable advice to clinicians, which gives them the information they need to manage interactions in practice. The checker is quick and easy to use. The clinician can simply type in all the medications a patient is taking, and the checker will generate a list of potential interactions between pairs of the entered drugs. The interactions presented by the checker will have different gradings, explaining the severity of the interaction, what action the clinician needs to take, and the level of evidence present that supports the interaction.

For detailed guidance on how to use Stockley’s Interactions Checker download the MedicinesComplete user guide.

What is the best drug interaction checker feature, according to the Stockley’s Interactions Checker team?

Stockley’s Interactions Checker is designed for the busy health professional. It presents the interaction information between a pair of drugs in a very concise format. Typically, the information regarding the ‘what happens’ (e.g. Drug X increases the exposure to drug Y) and the ‘what to do’ (e.g. Avoid concurrent use) is condensed into one to two sentences. This allows clinicians to read and interpret the interaction information quickly, and action the advice provided at the point of care.

How accurate and reliable is the information in this drug interaction checker?

The content within Stockley’s Interactions Checker is created by pharmacists with clinical backgrounds, meaning that they understand exactly what information clinicians need. These pharmacists utilise their clinical knowledge and analytical skills to assess data from studies and case reports, as well as international product literature, and convert it into practical, usable guidance.

Can you search for drug food interactions?

Stockley’s Interactions Checker has a separate functionality that allows the user to check for the presence of interactions between a particular drug and alcohol, beverages, tobacco smoking, or food products, for example grapefruit. Grapefruit commonly interacts with many drugs such as simvastatin. These non-drug interactants aren’t always considered by clinicians. This additional functionality highlights to users that these non-medicinal interactions are a possibility.

Where can I find out more information about drug interactions?

Once the user has typed in a drug or drugs into the search bar, the interactions will appear. If there is more information documented about a particular interaction, a link on the bottom right-hand corner will appear with the text ‘For full information, see Stockley’s Drug Interactions’. This will take the user to a full monograph explaining the interaction in more detail, with supporting references. Please refer to the MedicinesComplete user guide for more information about how to find this.

How often is Stockley’s Interactions Checker updated?

Stockley’s Interactions Checker is kept up to date through regular review. The content is updated every month to ensure it provides reliable, up-to-date information to clinicians. Amendments are made to existing content and new drugs are added to ensure the content is as comprehensive as possible.

How do you access the drug interaction checker?

Access Stockley’s Interactions Checker online via MedicinesComplete. You may contact us for more information about pricing and access information through our sales and upgrade enquiries form.