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Bob Hammond is stakeholder and communications manager,
ePrescribing programme, at NHS Connecting for Health
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Nikolai Sorokin/Dreamstime
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SUMMARY
Potential benefits of electronic
prescribing (ePrescribing) in reducing medication errors and improving
communication are widely recognised by hospital pharmacists, as described
in the first
article of this feature (p217).
The ePrescribing programme within NHS Connecting
for Health (NHS CfH) reached
an important milestone in February when the ePrescribing functional specification
was published. The specification sets out the functionality identified
by clinician as being required in ePrescribing systems and will play a
key role in guiding software development by NHS CfH's suppliers, the local
service providers (LSPs).
Most acute and mental health trusts in England will deliver ePrescribing
via LSP software, so the development of the specification is important
for hospital pharmacists, doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.
Background
Evidence suggests that hospital pharmacists already recognise the potential
value of ePrescribing. A recent survey indicated that senior pharmacists
regard it as the most useful measure (among a range of options) offered
for reducing medication errors
during both prescribing and administration, although it was also perceived
to be the most difficult to implement of the measures
listed.
More recently, the Healthcare Commission’s annual medicines management
report indicated that many acute trusts were keenly awaiting the arrival
of a national ePrescribing solution in England.
ePrescribing is expected to have a major role to play in the NHS’s
efforts to reduce medication errors and adverse drug reactions.
What is ePrescribing?
Panel 1: Definition of
ePrescribing
The ePrescribing programme defines ePrescribing
as “the utilisation
of electronic systems to facilitate and enhance the communication
of a prescription or medicine order, aiding the choice, administration
and supply of a medicine through knowledge and decision support and
providing a robust audit trail for the entire medicines use process”. |
The ePrescribing programme’s definition of ePrescribing appears
in Panel 1 (right).
Broadly, ePrescribing systems will involve: • Computerised entry and management of prescriptions
• Decision support, aiding the choice of medicine and other therapies
• Support for the administration of
medicines
• Knowledge support, giving users
immediate access to up-to-date drug information (eg, the British National
Formulary) and local information such as procedures and protocols
• Electronic links between hospital wards/departments and pharmacies
• A robust audit trail for the entire
medicines use process
• Ultimately, links to other elements of patients’ individual care
records
• The ability to work with pharmacy
systems, such as stock control
• An element of customisation to take local processes and priorities into
account (eg, in local formularies and clinical protocols)
ePrescribing will therefore support health care professionals at all stages
of the medicines use process.
Full text article PDF (50K) |
Hospital
Pharmacist