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Letters to the Editor
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Electronic prescribing
It is what ETP can deliver that is important
From Mr S. F. Freeborn, MRPharmS
As a major supplier of pharmacy, electronic prescribing, electronic
administration recording and integrated clinical software solutions,
I would like to offer a view on the Broad spectrum article, “Is
electronic prescribing a Holy Grail?” (PJ, 3 April, p412).
History has always concentrated on the search for the Holy Grail and
not what it might offer, as if the object were more important than the
benefits that could be produced by the find. For me, the Holy Grail is
not electronic prescribing, which several companies, including ourselves,
have experience in implementing. The Holy Grail is the reduction in patient
risk that will ensue from its introduction. The real issue about electronic
prescribing is that it is not an end in itself but it is what benefits
it can bring.
Electronic prescribing forms only part of what is being termed “e-medicines
management”, which encompasses the whole picture of using technology
to support the process of management of medicines across all of the boundaries
of health care. The National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT)
agenda will facilitate this evolution, but only if pharmacy is heavily
involved in the deliverables. I would encourage all pharmacists, especially
those who manage services, to involve themselves in understanding the
ramifications of NPfIT to their future service delivery.
Stephen Freeborn
Pharmacy Division,
ASC Computer Software
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal