Posted on 03/10/2010 10:49:52 AM PST by decimon
New study shows seven-fold decrease in medication errors thanks to e-prescribing
Is it time for all community-based doctors to turn to e-prescribing to cut down on the number of medication errors? According to Rainu Kaushal and colleagues from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, electronic prescriptions can dramatically reduce prescribing errors – up to seven-fold. Their study¹ of the benefits of e-prescribing in primary care practices appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.
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Kaushal and team found that among those who used e-prescribing, there was an almost seven-fold decrease in prescribing errors after one year - from 42.5 percent at the start of the study to 6.6 percent after a year. In contrast, among those who used traditional paper-based prescriptions, the level of errors remained high: 37.3 percent at baseline versus 38.4 percent at one year. Predictably, illegibility errors were completely eliminated by e-prescribing.
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(Excerpt) Read more at springer.com ...
Writing wrongs ping.
When one of my children was young and had oral surgery, I took the written prescription for pain meds to the pharmacy. Being an RN, I always read the doctor’s orders before handing it to the pharmacist.
I read it clearly, but the pharmacist didn’t. Exiting the pharmacy and looking at the bottle, I realized that my child would have been taking double the dose of pain meds than prescribed.
I returned, told them of the mistake, and the pharmacist corrected it, but never said one word to me..as if nothing happened.
My first job was with a company trying to invent what is now e-prescribing. The company I was with had issues, I’m really glad someone else did better!
I like to point out the simple fact that “Doctors are not Pharmacists”.
While Doctors prescribe medicines, it is never a good idea to take a prescription unless you have cleared it with a pharmacist. Doctors simply cannot keep up with the subject.
In addition, pharmacists have to be aware of drug interactions with other drugs, with alternative medicines, with foods and drinks, and they have to be able to quickly step in and say “Stop taking that medicine!” if a dangerous side effect emerges.
And even once a pharmacist has given their approval, it is still very wise to check the Internet, both the online drug list,
http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/hp.asp
and for a general Google of the drug and its use in your condition.
Oddly enough, a natural food with a huge number of drug interactions is grapefruit juice:
http://www.powernetdesign.com/grapefruit/
And when you talk to your pharmacist be sure to mention EVERY herb, natural cure, alternative remedy, etc. Some herbs, especially, can be extremely potent and can have serious side effects with pharmaceuticals.
Pharmacists also often “fill in the gaps” for information you didn’t know to ask. They will know if there is a generic version of the medicine, or an OTC (over the counter) version.
Most of all, they catch mistakes. Everyone’s mistakes. Doctors still have terrible handwriting. Patients (and the Internet) can be full of misinformation, add and forget things. Drug manufacturers make production errors. And likely the drug stores computer system is got errors as well.
Thanks.
I’m not on any medications but others are.
add this one to check for reactions of meds.
I have a lot of med reactions and ALWAYS check the side effects before I take any new meds. Then I only take 1 new med and a time and monitor my body for changes.
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