Roberta Powell was undergoing breast cancer treatment in 2005 when she caught a dosage mistake for one of her medications at her pharmacy. Shaken, she realized how few resources exist when it comes to potential drug interactions.
“That incident … led me to decide to become a nurse,” said Powell, who switched careers at age 45 after working in the finance and transportation industries. “I saw patient after patient going through the same type of frustration that I had.”
Powell founded Health Education and Learning LLC in 2018. One of the company’s products, Q2Q Health, is an app that allows users to enter their medication list and receive information on potential interactions.
The app, which is undergoing final testing rounds, also provides alerts on issues with over-the-counter medications.
Q2Q includes a platform that works with large data sets to determine the same type of information for use in sectors such as public health.
“Even though providers know the interactions, and pharmacists know the interactions, there’s alarm fatigue,” Powell, Q2Q’s CEO, said. “But patients have no idea, especially if they take something over the counter.”
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Graham@PBN.com.