The introduction of electronic medication charts and prescribing in aged care facilities: An evaluation

Abstract

The objective was to test the feasibility of electronic medication charts in aged care facilities and the impact on general practitioner (GP) and staff work processes. The Illawarra Division of General Practice conducted a trial where GPs used a modified version of commercially available software to generate medication charts, in four residential aged care facilities. Semistructured, face-to-face interviews, log books and an issue register were used to evaluate the success of this trial. The system improved chart clarity, which was felt to have improved medication management accuracy. However, system usability was hindered by the location of the computer, the availability of prescription paper, and technical difficulties. The system is inexpensive and three facilities have continued to use it after the trial period. To show measurable improvements in medication management, a trial that includes all residents is needed. Aged care facilities need more computer equipment in order to adopt important innovations.• The use of electronic medication charts is likely to increase patient safety.• There is a lack of computer infrastructure in most aged care facilities which will hinder the adoption of important innovations.

The benefits of introducing electronic health records in residential aged care facilities: A multiple case study

“…These include: easy access to data in every computer at any time the care staff member wants, as also found in the previous studies [10][11][12][13]. Moreover, as in three previous studies [10,11,15], quick data retrieval was noticed by different levels of care staff.…”

“…These include: easy access to data in every computer at any time the care staff member wants, as also found in the previous studies [10][11][12][13]. Moreover, as in three previous studies [10,11,15], quick data retrieval was noticed by different levels of care staff. Consistent with the findings by Munyisia et al [10] from a questionnaire survey at one of the facilities participating in this study, the ease of both learning and using the system was noticed even by staff who had limited computer skills to start with.…”

“…The benefits of EHRs as perceived by the care staff members were that they were legible [10,11], accurate [10,20], complete [10,21] and concise [10] recording. There were fewer mistakes in EHRs as it was easier to change data on computer than on paper before the data was saved.…”

“…The related literature does show a number of identified benefits of these information and communications technology (ICT) solutions. These include ease of access [10][11][12][13], improved efficiency [10,11,14,15], improved quality of care [10,14,[16][17][18][19], improved quality of information (including charts, records and reports) [10][11][12][13][14][20][21][22], facilitation of management [13,17,20], improved communication [10,17,18,23], cost saving [16,24] and other benefits [16]. Few studies [10,12,15], however, focus on aged care electronic health record (EHR) systems, and none of these systematically evaluates the benefits or how the benefits have been achieved.…”

Medication charts in residential aged-care facilities

“…5,6 The systems were developed as tools to record and report on drug administration, but now include sharing of real-time data on adherence and changes to treatment, and the ordering of stock. The electronic version of the doctor's order displays just the current drugs resulting in a much simpler document than the proprietary printed charts.…”