The current edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine reports that health care providers who use electronic prescriptions are seven times less likely to make errors, compared to those who write prescriptions by hand. Electronic prescriptions are written on computers which contain databases of information on drugs which assist physicians in selecting proper drug dosages, avoid drug interactions, and checking drug allergies. The majority of errors were unlikely to cause serious harm to patients as they were often picked up by pharmacists – these include incomplete directions and omitting the quantity of drug to dispense. A small number of errors were more serious, such as prescribing incorrected dosages of drugs. However, the advantages of e-precribing go well beyond reducing the risk of patient harm. Reduction in errors can dramatically improve health care delivery and reduce health care costs. [via iHealth Bulletin]
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.