Electronic prescriptions shown to be more complete than written prescriptions

Eur J Ophthalmol. 2011;21(5):644-648

Electronic prescriptions appeared to be more complete than two types of written prescriptions, a study found.

"Our results support the view that electronic prescribing is an essential tool for ensuring completeness of information and highlight the importance of prescription design and the impact this can have on reducing prescription errors," the study authors said. "If written prescriptions must be used, we recommend the inclusion of information prompts in their design."

The retrospective study included 50 electronic discharge prescriptions, 100 outpatient prescriptions and 100 day surgery prescriptions. Chi-square analysis was used to determine between-group differences in the inclusion of 10 information domains.

Study results showed that electronic prescriptions included 100% complete information in all domains and more complete information on medicine duration than day surgery prescriptions.

Written outpatient prescriptions, which had duration prompts but did not have laterality prompts, were better in recording duration and worse in recording laterality than day surgery prescriptions, which did not have duration prompts but did have laterality prompts.

"The only clear superiority of electronic over both types of written prescriptions was in the supply of a printed prescriber name, which is perhaps not an entirely surprising result," the authors said. "A more concerning finding was the superiority of electronic over day surgery prescriptions in the recording of medicine duration. Furthermore, the apparent superiority of electronic over outpatient prescriptions in the recording of laterality was approaching significance."