First Databank (FDB) has become the first drug knowledge base and clinical decision support provider to be awarded accreditation by NICE's Accreditation Programme. The NICE Accreditation Advisory Committee made its decision based on the process used to develop the clinical and medicines' information and the editorial rigour implemented across FDB's drug knowledge database, which underpins its products Multilex and FIRSTLight.
The accreditation process ensures a thorough and transparent evaluation, including technical analysis, peer review and consideration by an advisory committee of guidance experts. The pilot application included further review by Dr Maureen Baker, clinical director of patient safety at NHS Connecting for Health, and a team of safety engineers.
In a time when the public sector is charged with making significant efficiency improvements and achieving challenging NHS reforms, NICE’s role in providing recommendations to organisations in the public and private sector is of critical importance. This accreditation helps health and social care professionals identify the most robustly produced clinical decision support available, driving up the quality of care delivery. FDB is the only drug knowledge provider that has been given accreditation.
The accreditation assessment reviewed the processes that FDB uses to develop the clinical decision support content within its products, Multilex and FIRSTLight. The Multilex drug terminology holds clinical and commercial information on more than 75,000 pharmaceutical products and packs, and both products provide active clinical decision support and referential medicines information for all healthcare professionals, as well as endorsing and reimbursement support for community pharmacists and dispensing doctors.
NICE's accreditation of FDB's processes to develop the content in its clinical decision support, in parallel with the Connecting for Health assessment of the technology and the recommendations delivered in specific clinical settings, provides NHS organisations with reassurance of the overall quality of the clinical decision support system they are purchasing.
Darren Nichols, managing director of First Databank explains further; "FDB has led the way in having independent validation by NICE of the processes used in our drug knowledge and clinical decision support that forms the core of our product offering to the UK and International healthcare markets. The quality of our knowledge base, provided by our expert clinicians, researchers and health informaticists, means that Healthcare IT system vendors, and clinicians using our drug data within those systems, can have complete confidence in the clinical decision support we offer."
The NICE accreditation lasts for five years from the date of award.
Related news articles:
- First DataBank's Profile
About First DataBank
First DataBank is the UK's leading provider of drug knowledge bases and active clinical decision support. With over 30 years' experience of maintaining, developing and integrating drug knowledge bases across the entire healthcare spectrum, First DataBank has unrivalled expertise and knowledge in this specialist field. NHS Connecting for Health has chosen First DataBank to provide drug-related clinical decision support.
Patient safety is the driving force behind our business. Through the effective integration of our products into clinical systems, we enable safer prescribing, dispensing and administration.
Our Multilex Drug Data File - the UK's most comprehensive and widely used drug knowledge base - is in daily use by thousands of healthcare professionals in the UK.
For further information visit www.firstdatabank.co.uk.
