Don't you just love when the patient hands you, the pharmacist, a prescription that looks like a right handed man wrote with his left foot? Well, now there is new statistical data showing that doctors are utilizing the E-prescribing technology more than the standard writing on a prescription pad. Surescripts, an E-prescribing network facilitator is reporting that 52% of doctors are now using the service, compared to 10% three years prior. With the company also reporting retail pharmacies having E-prescribing access at 94%, why not employ such an efficient piece of technology? Furthermore, according to Surescripts audits, the Bay area used E-prescribing for 43% of all prescriptions, which has cut down on medication errors, wrong drugs being dispensed, and drug interactions. The top three states using this service are: Massachusetts, Delaware, and Michigan. To see if your state is on the top ten list or to just see where your state falls on the list, check it out here: http://www.surescripts.com/saferx.aspx .
The full article can be found here: http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=BF47DE89B11F4236923EDE6AEA2B31BB
While I think e-prescribing is a great idea and definitely a big part of the future of retail pharmacy, it still has some downfalls. I work at CVS and everyday someone comes in looking for a prescription that was sent from their doctor's computer and is "lost in space" somewhere. It's either filled at the pharmacy down the street or just plain never got to us for some reason or another. A service meant to speed things up, has actually slowed our job down many times instead. Also, while it is better not to have to interpret the doctor's handwriting, sometimes the doctor will just plain pick the wrong drug or wrong directions. I've seen a blood pressure medication with directions such as "Apply QD". Ideally doctors should double check what they are prescribing, whether it's e-prescribed or written out by hand. I still think e-prescribing is a great idea, but we should still be just as careful when verifying these prescriptions and some kinks still need to be worked out.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time! My only pharmacy experience so far is at my IPPE site this semester but I can till sloppily written scripts were one of the biggest frustrations of the techs and the pharmacist. There would be some that were written so bad, all 3 workers in the pharmacy would have to stop what they were doing and go to the computer to try to decipher what drug the doctor wrote out. This is ridiculous when retail is trying to make us efficient. Although there is definitely an issue with e-prescriptions getting 'lost in space' as compared to the tangible written scripts, but I think with more time utilizing the technology there will be a switch to 100% e-prescribing.
ReplyDelete