Summary
Electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) systems allow healthcare professionals to enter prescriptions and manage medicines using a computer. Sheikh and colleagues set out to find out how these ePrescribing systems are chosen, set up and used in English hospitals.
Given that these systems are designed to improve medication safety, we looked at whether or not these systems affected the number of prescribing errors made (mistakes such as ordering the wrong dose of medication). They also tried to see whether or not the systems were good value for money (or more cost-effective). Finally, they made recommendations to help hospitals choose, set up and use ePrescribing systems.
Content
The authors found that setting up ePrescribing systems was very difficult because there is a need to take into consideration how different pharmacists, nurses and doctors work, and the different work that needs to be carried out for different diseases and medical conditions. The authors recorded a link between the implementation of ePrescribing systems and a reduction in some high-risk prescribing errors in two out of three study sites. Given that the error reductions corresponded to the warnings triggered by the system, they concluded that the system is likely to have caused the error reduction.
Prescribing errors may lead to adverse events that lead to death, impaired quality of life and longer hospital stays. The cost of an ePrescribing system increased in proportion to reduced errors, reaching £4.31 per patient per year for the site that experienced the greatest reduction in prescribing errors. This estimate is based on assumptions in the model and how much a health service is willing to pay for a unit of health benefit.
To help professionals choose, set up and use ePrescribing systems in the future, the authors have produced an online ePrescribing Toolkit that, with support from NHS England, is becoming widely used internationally.
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