A prescription for enhancing electronic prescribing safety.

Schiff G; Mirica MM; Dhavle AA; Galanter WL; Lambert B; Wright A.

Although electronic prescribing has been shown to reduce prescribing errors, the impact on adverse drug events remains less certain. Overriding of drug–drug interaction alerts and inclusion of free-text notes that contain inaccurate information within electronic prescriptions suggests that safe prescribing requires more than an electronic system. To improve the safety of electronic prescribing, the authors make several broad recommendations. They suggest including drug indications on prescriptions, ensuring a readily available and accurate medication list, notifying pharmacies when previously prescribed medications are canceled, using standard prescription instructions, improving decision support, and promoting consideration of nondrug options. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed an incident involving an electronic prescribing error.

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