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Letters to the Editor
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Independent prescriber
IT systems provide valuable support
From Mr K. Kirtland
Reports and announcements regarding our national health care service have
been given a great deal of attention in the news over the past week.
We have seen the latest report produced by the National Audit Office — “A
safer place for patients: learning to improve patient safety” — state
that a minimum of 2,000 (and actually nearer 34,000) people died as a result
of hospital errors and accidents in 2004–05 (PJ, 12 November, p597).
Also last week, it was announced that the Government is going to grant
pharmacists and nurses the right to prescribe (PJ, 19 November, p621, p627).
Doctors’ surgeries have also been urged to stay open longer. But
with these additional challenges, how can we ensure patient safety? How
can errors at the point of prescribing and dispensing be reduced? How can
we ensure consistent treatments from an ever increasing range of clinicians
who are able to prescribe?
An increasingly united health-care system, underpinned by the work of NHS
Connecting for Health in the rollout of the national programme for IT,
will support these new prescribers, so that the risk of error is minimised
and consistency is maintained in medicines management.
Information technology systems are available here and now, and if used
effectively, can help clinicians make informed prescribing decisions and
reduce the occurrence of errors. In fact, these systems have been in use
in GP practices and pharmacies for many years and have demonstrated real
benefit. This has also been the case in hospitals where they have been
introduced.
NHS Connecting for Health, supported by substantial, new investment from
the Government, is working hard to ensure that all hospitals will benefit
from new IT systems at the earliest possible date. This is a significant
step in helping to reduce the tragic loss of lives that result from prescribing
errors and should be welcomed by both clinicians and patients alike.
Modern, clinical IT systems are designed to alert the user to potential
risk automatically and are an essential element of decision support for
hard-working clinicians. These systems alert clinicians to allergic reactions,
contraindications, precautions, warnings and side effects.
Of course, these alerts need to be prioritised and focused, and relate
to frequency, severity and patient context, in order to better communicate
warnings to the clinicians. Clinicians will certainly benefit from this
targeted and comprehensive decision support as a tool for improving patient
safety.
Drug knowledge bases for decision support systems are continually being
researched and modified to ensure an up-to-date picture for the clinician.
It is these technology-based decision support systems that underpin the
expanding role of clinicians in the NHS and aid them in making the right
decision for each patient. The result is a better standard of care, with
fewer errors and consistent treatments, ensuring the path to patient safety.
Keith Kirtland
Sales and Marketing Director
First DataBank Europe
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal