Electronic Prescribing Improves Medication Safety in Community-Based Office Practices

Abstract

ClinicalTrials.gov, Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC), NCT00225563, http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00225563?term=Kaushal&rank=6 .

Transitioning Between Electronic Health Records: Effects on Ambulatory Prescribing Safety

“…Also in our study, overall error rates for nonabbreviation errors were no different at one year and baseline, despite the fact that the old system had very limited CDS, although due to our small sample size, we may not have been able to detect a significant difference. This is despite a low overall prescribing error rates for non-abbreviation errors compared to rates in other published studies using identical methodology 7,13 .…”

“…As in other published studies, rule violations were not counted as errors 7,13 provider, extending data collection beyond two weeks if necessary.…”

“…Research on the ability of e-prescribing to improve safety has predominantly come from the inpatient setting and on locally developed systems created by organizations for their own use [3][4][5] . Fewer studies have been conducted on commercial systems or in the outpatient setting and results have been mixed [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . To ensure that federal spending is directed toward effective interventions, it is important to evaluate the effect of e-prescribing on safety in the ambulatory setting, where most prescribing occurs and errors are common 7,[12][13][14][15] .…”

“…Fewer studies have been conducted on commercial systems or in the outpatient setting and results have been mixed [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . To ensure that federal spending is directed toward effective interventions, it is important to evaluate the effect of e-prescribing on safety in the ambulatory setting, where most prescribing occurs and errors are common 7,[12][13][14][15] .Use of e-prescribing in the ambulatory setting has been low, although increased use is expected given federal incentives for meaningful EHR use 2,[16][17][18][19][20] . To demonstrate meaningful use, providers will have to meet certain criteria, including use of e-prescribing 21 .…”

Automatic Errors: A Case Series on the Errors Inherent in Electronic Prescribing

“…2,3 A study of community-based office practices found that prescribing errors were reduced from 42.4 to 6.6 per 100 prescriptions at 1 year among adopters of e-prescribing, while there was no change among non-adopters (p < 0.001). 4 The inadvertent dispensing of discontinued medications is another form of medication error. Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates found that 1.5 % of electronically discontinued medications were still being dispensed at the pharmacy during a 12-month follow-up, and 34 % of these medications met criteria for higher risk of adverse events.…”