Handwritten to Electronic Prescriptions: Emerging Views and Practices, Saudi Arabia.
Loading...
Date
2014-10-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Background: There has been little research on electronic prescribing (EP) in Middle
Eastern countries. This is in part due to the slow implementation of electronic health
records [EHR] integrated with EP. Electronic prescribing is associated with a considerable
reduction in medication errors compared to handwritten prescriptions.
Objective: This paper reviews the relevant literature on handwritten and EP in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as focusing on global issues including problems related
to handwritten prescribing, the role of EP in mitigating these problems, the functions of the
EHR system with EP, ways of implementing EP, and identifying potential barriers and
challenges in the Middle Eastern region.
Search Strategy: Computer searches of PubMed and Google Scholar were conducted
using the keywords “handwritten prescription,” “pen and pencil prescription,” “medication
prescribing,” “medication errors,” “electronic prescribing,” and “electronic medical records.”
Review Article
British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(28): 4607-4626, 2014
4608
These keywords were combined with ‘mechanisms’, ‘standards’, ‘advantages’,
‘disadvantages’, ‘challenges’, ‘plan’, and ‘opportunities’ with the objective of
comprehensively retrieving the peer-reviewed articles published in English language
journals on this subject. A total of 101 studies were included in this work. Methods: Two
of the authors of this work retrieved and reviewed 101 papers that met our inclusion
criteria. Any disagreements were resolved by a consensus of all three authors.
Results: There were more articles on handwritten prescriptions that involved illegible
writing that resulted in medication errors than articles on EP due to a lack of research and
slow implementation of EHR system in the Middle East. At global level, e-prescribing that
was supported by well-defined standards and careful implementation was associated with
a reduction in serious medication errors, morbidity, mortality, and service cost, as well as
an increase in work flow efficiency, a higher quality of healthcare service delivery, and
greater satisfaction of both healthcare providers and consumers. Electronic prescribing is
now being practiced in many major medical centers and specialist hospitals not only in
KSA but also in other countries of the region. However, there remains a need to
implement EP systems in hospitals, primary care outpatient settings, and throughout the
private health sector where it is missing.
Conclusion: It is time for the widespread adoption of EP, EHR, and health informatics
systems across Middle Eastern countries including KSA, as well as for systematic
research to evaluate their effectiveness.
Description
Keywords
Handwritten prescription, electronic prescribing, electronic prescribing systems, electronic health records, medication errors, Saudi Arabia
Citation
Qureshi Naseem Akhtar, Al-Bedah Abdullah Mohammed, Koenig Harold G. Handwritten to Electronic Prescriptions: Emerging Views and Practices, Saudi Arabia.British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research. 2014 Oct; 4(28): 4607-4626.