Electronic prescribing reduces prescribing error in public hospitals

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medication Safety
• Clinical Pharmacy Practice

Background:

• Medication errors remain a significant challenge in healthcare systems globally.
• The effectiveness of electronic prescribing in reducing errors has not been extensively studied in developing countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the incidence of prescribing errors in a major public hospital in Pakistan.
• To evaluate the impact of implementing an electronic prescribing system on reducing these errors.

Main Methods:

• A prospective review of medication and discharge charts was conducted before and after the introduction of an electronic inpatient record and prescribing system.
• The study analyzed 3300 inpatient records and 1100 discharge medication sheets across 11 wards.

Main Results:

• The overall prescribing error rate decreased from 22.6% with paper-based prescribing to 8.2% with electronic prescribing for inpatients.
• For discharge prescriptions, the error rate dropped from 16.9% to 4.4% after the implementation of the electronic system.

Conclusions:

• Electronic prescribing systems demonstrate a substantial impact on reducing prescribing errors.
• Prescribing errors are prevalent in Pakistan's public hospitals, underscoring the need for interventions like electronic prescribing.