General Practitioners and Pharmacists' Perspectives on Electronic Prescribing for Multidose Drug Dispensing: Mixed...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pharmacy Practice
• General Practice

Background:

• Medication safety is a key healthcare challenge, especially for patients with complex regimens.
• Norway introduced electronic prescribing for multidose drug dispensing (eMDD) to enhance medication adherence and reduce errors.
• The eMDD system integrates with the national e-prescription infrastructure.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate challenges faced by Norwegian GPs and pharmacists using eMDD.
• Gather recommendations for eMDD system improvements.
• Guide future eMDD development and national implementation.

Main Methods:

• A parallel mixed methods design integrating quantitative and qualitative data.
• Online survey distributed to 54 pharmacies and 190 GP surgeries in Norway.
• Thematic analysis of qualitative responses (NVivo) and quantitative data analysis (Nettskjema tools).

Main Results:

• 70 healthcare professionals participated, identifying 7 key themes.
• GPs reported insufficient training and communication overload.
• Pharmacists noted system integration problems and unclear roles; both desired better usability and collaboration.

Conclusions:

• The eMDD system can improve medication safety and workflows but requires addressing technical and training issues.
• Clarifying roles and involving end-users in development is vital for successful national implementation.
• Integration with broader eHealth initiatives, like the Patient's Medication List, is essential.