A primary care application of an integrated computer-based pharmacy system

Primary care demands a continuous flow of current pharmaceutical information to the front lines of patient services. With a wide spectrum of drugs to prescribe and a continuous production of new drug-related information, the practicing physician is faced with a social and professional mandate to deliver the most acceptable drug in a safe and efficacious manner. The legal implications of this product and knowledge explosion have exposed the human brain's inability to store, update, and recall what is currently available. Physicians can no longer trust their memory or their paper-based medical record to protect them from potential liability. The tools to correct this mental imbalance are now available and it should be standard practice to implement a sophisticated computer-based pharmacy system (CBPS) for every outpatient in the United States.