Drug Formulary App

Introduction

Ministry of Health Medicines Formulary (MOHMF) is a valuable resource for healthcare professionals practicing at Malaysia.

  • It provides quick information on indications, dosage, availability and prescribing category.
  • Also, it forms the hospital/clinical drug formulary foundation for all government healthcare facilities at Malaysia.

Although the website is a possible solution, there is no official mobile application available yet.

  • The official MyFormulary app is now under development.



Self-Driven Initiatives

Thus far, multiple unofficial attempts have been made, first started with My Blue Book by My Pharmacist House (last updated to FUKKM 2016-2), followed with Blue Book (Updated+Brand Name Search) by Apicel (last updated to FUKKM 2020-2).

  • Both these applications are no longer updated and removed from App Store.

My Blue Book Blue Book (Updated+Brand Name Search)

Self-driven initiatives are then continued by other parties.

    Blue Book + CPG Malaysia
    • Pharmacist Magicbook under Pharmacoder
      • If there is a privacy concern, you may create an account using fake phone number.
      • Database last updated to MOHMF 2023-1.

    Pharmacist Magicbook



    The Way Forward: Hospital/Clinic Formulary

    Till today, most self-driven initiatives have been directed at developing mobile application using latest Ministry of Health Medicines Formulary (MOHMF) database, to maximises the number of potential users. Clearly, there are limitations.

    • The timeliness of mobile application database updates requires huge commitment of continuous efforts.
    • Not all hospital drugs are listed in MOHMF.
    • Not all drugs in MOHMF are available in our hospital/clinic.

    The government should initiate a local hospital/clinic drug formulary mobile application to address the limitations of current self-driven initiatives.

    • The application should automatically sync with the MOHMF (the backbone database) to ensure the changes in indications, prescribing restrictions, dosing, prescribing categories and precautions are reflected in the local formulary.
    • For drugs that are not available in the MOHMF, a separate drug list with detailed indication and dosage information should be created. This would allow individual facilities to activate these medicines into their own formulary if necessary.
    • There should be specific remarks section available for each facility to annotate more information, such as
      • Formulary status information (prescribing restrictions on department, prescriber or patient basis)
      • Notes on local practices or quick info reminders (e.g. prandial advice, cold-chain, counselling points).
    • In terms of security, username + password authentication should be required for read-only access, editor or admin user.



    Summary

    While the development of a government-backed mobile drug formulary is the most pressing need, further research is needed to explore additional functionalities such as drug album, drug interaction checking and real-time updates on drug storages.

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