Addition of electronic prescription transmission to computerized prescriber order entry: Effect on dispensing errors in community pharmacies
- 15 January 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
- Vol. 68 (2), 158-163
- https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp080298
Abstract
Purpose The addition of electronic prescription transmission to computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) and its effect on dispensing errors in community pharmacies were evaluated. Methods A controlled, before-and-after trial to measure the effect of electronic prescribing on dispensing errors in two control clinics and one e-prescribing clinic already using CPOE was conducted between January and November 2006. Prescriptions documented within the CPOE system were reconciled with dispensed prescription information from participating pharmacy chains via a national pharmacy information exchange network. Dispensing errors were defined as discrepancies between the prescriber’s written orders and the dispensed prescription information. Prescriptions filled at nonparticipating pharmacies were not analyzed. Results A total of 11,447 prescriptions were written in the control clinics, and 29,575 were written in the e-prescribing clinic. During the intervention period, 2,179 (22%) of 9,905 intervention clinic prescriptions were electronically transmitted, including 621 (28%) available for analysis. There was no significant difference in the dispensing-error rates between the baseline and intervention periods for the control clinics. Similarly, the dispensing-error rates did not differ significantly for the e-prescribing clinic between the baseline and intervention periods for prescriptions that were not electronically transmitted. The e-prescribing clinic’s dispensing-error rate for electronically transmitted prescriptions during the intervention was significantly lower than its baseline dispensing-error rate (p = 0.03). Conclusion Electronic transmission of prescription data from physicians’ offices to a pharmacy nearly halved the risk of dispensing errors compared with generating the prescription with outpatient CPOE and printing it and giving it to the patient.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of electronic prescribing on the quality of prescribingBritish Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2007
- Preventing medication errors in community pharmacy: root-cause analysis of transcription errorsHeart, 2007
- The impact of a closed-loop electronic prescribing and administration system on prescribing errors, administration errors and staff time: a before-and-after studyQuality and Safety in Health Care, 2007
- Preventing medication errors in community pharmacy: frequency and seriousness of medication errorsQuality and Safety in Health Care, 2007
- Outpatient drug safety: new steps in an old directionPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2006
- Health Care IT Collaboration in Massachusetts: The Experience of Creating Regional ConnectivityJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2005
- Outpatient prescribing errors and the impact of computerized prescribingJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2005
- Clinical Decision Support in Electronic Prescribing: Recommendations and an Action Plan: Report of the Joint Clinical Decision Support WorkgroupJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2005
- National Observational Study of Prescription Dispensing Accuracy and Safety in 50 PharmaciesJournal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 2003
- Pharmacists’ attitudes towards dispensing errors: their causes and preventionJournal of Clinical Pharmacy & Therapeutics, 1999