It has been previously shown that approximately 16% of adverse drug events (ADEs) in an ICU setting are due to drug-drug interactions. Clinical decision support systems that alert prescribers to potential interactions have been shown to be effective. A high volume of alerts (often for interaction with low-risk consequences) can result in desensitisation and a high proportion of alert overrides.

Investigators in a study conducted in the Netherlands hypothesised that tailoring the alerts to only those relevant in the ICU setting would reduce the frequency of inappropriate prescribing and improve patient care, which proved to be the case with a 13% reduction in high-risk combinations per 1000 drug administrations per patient.

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