[A community electronic prescription system connecting physicians, pharmacists, and patients, and utilization of...

We tested a community electronic prescription system (K-CHOPS/PPISS) that we developed in Kagawa, Japan, which connects the prescribing physicians, pharmacists at community pharmacies, and patients through a community data center server. Physicians can send prescriptions, diagnoses, and laboratory data to the datacenter. Pharmacists in community pharmacies can access their patients' information through the datacenter and can return corrected prescriptions and reports containing guidance and adverse events to the hospital or clinic where the prescription was issued. Patients can then see their dispensed medications on their PCs, cellular phones, and smart phones. Additionally, patients can input medication-taking records, allergy and adverse drug reactions (ADR), any over-the-counter drug and supplements that they take, and their physical condition through the devices. The system enables pharmacists to appropriately advise and monitor ADR based on patient clinical data and enables physicians to accurately know the medications handed to patients and advisories issued by the pharmacists. Further, physicians and pharmacists can see the patients' condition which they entered on their devices if the patients agree. These would be helpful for avoiding ADR. The information accumulated in the data center can be potentially utilized for evaluation of the effectiveness and ADR of medications and for development of innovative medication. Discussion of the pros and cons for such utilization is needed.