The role of E-prescribing in health care

Abstract

Electronic prescribing is the alternative to the current method of manually written prescriptions in hospitals. It has many benefits for those prescribing and dispensing medicines, and also for the maintenance of medical records. The complexity of the use of medications has increased enormously, leading to a greater risk of errors. E-prescribing is less prone to error, it provides a better and more reliable source of information of patients' medication for clinicians, it saves staff time and improves the availability of patients' information when needed: e.g. patients preferences, allergies and diseases suffered. It reduces the time spent by rewriting the charts of prescription and much more. A Case Study carried out at Newham University Hospital (NHS) in London showed that healthcare professionals believed that e-prescribing would benefit the hospital. Fifty-five members of staff at all levels (administrative staff, doctors, nurses and para-medics) were interviewed in June 2014. Analysis of this survey showed that there was considerable support for the idea of an E-prescription system in the hospital. The study concludes that despite some technical and economic hurdles to be surmounted, the benefits of E-prescribing are clear.