Electronic Prescription Service Research Articles

Nationwide Electronic Prescription Services in Finland in 2010-2023.

This research aimed to follow up a 14-year period (2010-2023) public and private healthcare service organizations' and community pharmacies' entries to and exits from the centralized, interoperable and shared electronic Prescription Services in Finland. Our material were the official Social Welfare and Healthcare Organization Registry and the official Pharmacy Registry; their data were extracted in January 2024. Outcomes were continuous registration of services or registered exist from the services. In addition, we used information from the Kanta Services for presenting monthly and annual number of electronic prescriptions and medicine dispensations on national level. In 2010-2023, totally 838 community pharmacies' and their subsidiary pharmacies' entries to and 24 exits from the nationwide Prescription Services took place, and in total 814 pharmacy outlets had the Prescription Services in production in 2023. Totally, 1980 public and private healthcare service organizations' entries to and 494 exits from the Prescription Service took place, and 1486 organizations had the Prescription Services in production in 2023. Healthcare service organizations recorded totally 303.8 million electronic prescriptions into the Prescription Services. Recorded numbers were lower during the Covid-19 epidemic in Finland in 2020-2021. We also observed seasonal effects in the time series. Pharmacies recorded totally 660.4 million medicine dispensations (purchases) into the Prescription Services with an increasing trend year after year. We also observed seasonal effects in the dispensation time series.

Pharmacists as Patient Advocates: Enhancing Medication Adherence and Health Outcomes

This is a study of the pharmacists who are the advocates of patients' health. The study deals with enhancing medication adherence and improving the health outcomes of the patients. Using technology this can be done easily. Technologies such as Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) provide efficiency to operations. The several benefits of automated dispensing have also been covered along with a drawback of using this technology. The benefits to the patients and pharmacists come with a reduction in dispensing errors and overall improved healthcare. Lastly, the study gives future research directions with fields to work towards.

Half of all trusts could be using electronic prescription service by 2026, says NHS England

Half of all trusts could be using electronic prescription service by 2026, says NHS England

A Service Evaluation of the Implementation of E-sign for Homecare Prescriptions in Secondary Care

Abstract Introduction Homecare Medicine Services allow patients with chronic conditions, reliant on specialist medicines prescribed by secondary care, to manage their symptoms at home rather than requiring regular attendance to a hospital for treatment1. The Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust (RCHT) manages over 3000 patients on homecare services across a range of specialties. Traditional homecare processes required prescriptions to be printed on paper at the hospital, signed by hand by a prescriber and then securely couriered to the homecare provider for processing. The secondary care Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is coming but in the interim a solution was commissioned by the National Homecare Medicines Committee to improve processes, reduce administrative burden, and improve the timeliness of prescriptions for direct patient benefit. The product selected was E-sign (E-Sign (UK) Ltd) which allows prescriptions, as PDF files, to be signed with an advanced electronic signature and tracked through a managed workflow compliant with applicable legislation2. Working collaboratively with Sciensus we introduced E-sign in March 2022. In the last year we have processed approximately 3500 prescriptions via this process. We sought to evaluate E-sign prior to wider adoption within the Trust. Aim To evaluate the acceptability, benefits or drawbacks of the new E-sign process for prescribers and patients. Methods In January 2022 (pre- implementation) we audited 100 homecare prescriptions recording the time between prescribing on our electronic prescribing system (ePMA) and collection by the Sciensus courier. Post-implementation data was gathered by comparing the time of prescribing on ePMA and time of release to Sciensus on the E-sign workflow for 142 prescriptions in May 2023. Data was analysed in Microsoft Excel and a T-test was used to test significance. A short survey was sent to all prescriber and pharmacist users of the E-sign system (12) to evaluate the speed, flexibility and ease of use of the system. As this project falls under the definition of a service evaluation, according to UK NHS Research Ethics Committees, formal ethical approval was not required, it was registered with the Trust’s clinical audit database. Results There was a statistically significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the average time taken for prescription transmission, from 200 hours pre-implementation to 25 hours post-implementation. All respondents to the survey (N=8) agreed it was easier to use than the manual system and would recommend it to colleagues. Most (75%) felt the system was faster and more flexible than the paper system. 50% believed it improved the service to patients. All respondents would recommend the system to their colleagues. Discussion/Conclusion The E-sign system has brought benefits to prescribers and ultimately patients. Prescriptions are now transferred significantly more quickly to homecare providers, and the risk of lost prescriptions is removed. E-sign has allowed for service transformation; we now have prescribers who work entirely remotely using E-sign. Future developments will include collaborating with additional homecare providers, including a new patient workflow, and migrating to EPS when available. Study limitations were due to the sample size of prescribers available for survey.

Assessment of the operation status of electronic prescription at community pharmacies in Chengdu, China: a simulated patient study

BackgroundInformation and technologies relevant to eHealth have developed rapidly over the past two decades. Based on this, China piloted "Internet + " pattern and some regions piloted electronic prescription services to explore telepharmacy services.ObjectiveTo describe the processes and assess the operation status of electronic prescription services mode for community pharmacies in China.MethodsThe simulated patient methodology was used to conduct a cross-sectional study in 317 community pharmacies from six districts in Chengdu, China in 2019. Simulated patients expressed three levels of service demands based on scenario about acute upper respiratory tract infections to evaluate the recommendation strength of electronic prescription services and telepharmacy service in community pharmacies. The descriptive statistics was completed to obtain the characteristics of the visit process, student t-test and χ2 test (P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant) were used for inferential statistical analysis to determine differences in characteristics and degree of recommendation between pharmacies.ResultsThree Hundred Seventeen record sheets were effectively collected. The third-party platform was recommended in 195 (61.5%) interactions. The main reason for not recommending is non-prescription dispensing of prescription drugs (27.1%). 90.3% interactions waited less than 1 min, the counseling duration was less than 5 min in all interactions, and most community pharmacies had good network conditions (81.5%). 97.4% remote physicians offered professional counseling, only 22.1% of the pharmacists provided medication advice.ConclusionsThe electronic prescription services mode for community pharmacies in Chengdu provides a convenient drug purchase process but remains some problems. For example, prescribing drugs without a prescription and services provided by pharmacists was poor, etc. The relevant supporting policies should be improved in future development process.

Primary Health Care Physicians Perceptions about Centralized Electronic Prescription Service in Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: In the current era, electronic prescriptions are increasing in developed countries including Saudi Arabia, where the resources were adequate to manage the manpower and technical issues. The objective of the study was to find the perceptions of the physicians about the centralized electronic prescriptions at the primary health care centers (PHCCs) and suggestions to improve the existing service. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the PHC physicians and distributed questionnaires to 200 physicians through Google Links. Based on the WhatsApp group numbers, circulated a questionnaire to entire Qassim PHCC physicians and 131 physicians responded to our survey. Data were entered and analyzed with SPSS 21.0 version and necessary statistical tests were applied. Results: In the current study, 70.2% (n-92) were males and 40.5% (n-53) were 25–35 years of age. About 91.6% (n-120) of physicians gave an opinion of average and above satisfaction regarding Wasfaty service. Approximately, one-fifth of physicians (20.6%, n-27) gave their opinion as did not face difficulty with Wasfaty service. Approximately, half of the physicians (53.4%, n-70) gave a response as the Wasfaty service did not reduce the waiting time for the patient. There was significant association was observed among physicians fully satisfied with increasing prescription time and age (p < 0.05). One-third, 34.8% (n-55) of physicians gave an opinion on an internet problem, and 26.6% (n-42) physicians mentioned more options of medication at Wasfaty service. Conclusions: Based on the results of the study, PHCC physicians’ satisfaction regarding the Wasfaty service was good. But, need to address certain modifiable issues like internet problems, and more options for medication availability at Wasfaty service. Need similar studies as a follow-up survey are required to substantiate the current study findings and to improve Wasfaty service satisfaction.

P369 Electronic prescribing: A service improvement project

To implement the NHS electronic prescription service (EPS) currently used in primary care within the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) team, for patients assessed by the team either remotely or in the community. This allows acute prescriptions to be sent directly to a nominated community pharmacy, removing the need for the patient to travel to the hospital site or to involve a general practitioner (GP) who has not seen the patient.

First electronic prescriptions in Wales to be sent from GPs to pharmacies by autumn 2023

Wales should see a “technical proof of concept” for an electronic prescription service (EPS) by spring 2023, the Welsh government has said, with the service expected to be rolled to GP surgeries and pharmacies later in the year. The announcement came in a statement from Eluned Morgan, minister for health and social services, published on […]

First funding provided to develop electronic prescription service in Wales

First funding provided to develop electronic prescription service in Wales

'Groundbreaking' electronic prescription service rolled out in six NHS hospital trusts

'Groundbreaking' electronic prescription service rolled out in six NHS hospital trusts

Patient and family perceptions of the provision of medicines as part of virtual outpatient consultations for children during COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesTo evaluate (1) views and perceptions of patients/parents/carers and healthcare professionals on the medicines optimisation (MO) process following virtual outpatient clinic (VOC) during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) the processes...

EDITORIAL COMMENT

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More than half of community pharmacies face IT outages lasting more than an hour, finds survey

More than half of community pharmacy teams have experienced IT system failures at least once within a two-month time frame, a survey by the Community Pharmacy IT Group has found. The survey of 250 community pharmacy team members found that 56.5% noticed their electronic prescription service (EPS) or their patient medication record systems “failing for […]

First hospital trust electronic prescription service system due to be approved in June 2022

First hospital trust electronic prescription service system due to be approved in June 2022

Hospitals expected to begin testing electronic prescribing systems from autumn 2021

Hospital trusts in England could begin testing electronic prescription service (EPS) systems “in autumn 2021”, following a small pilot of the service in secondary care in 2020, a statement from NHS Digital has said. The secondary care EPS scheme aims to enable hospital outpatient prescriptions to be sent electronically to patients’ nominated community pharmacy. The […]

Three hospital trusts trial electronic prescription service during COVID-19 pandemic

Three hospital trusts trial electronic prescription service during COVID-19 pandemic

General practitioners’ perceptions towards the use of digital health services for citizens in primary care: a qualitative interview study

ObjectivesTo explore general practitioners’ (GPs) perceptions towards use of four digital health services for citizens: an electronic booking service to make reservations with the GP; an electronic prescription service to...

Mobile Application of Electronic Prescribing for Supporting E-Health Services

The frequency of frequent medication errors in misreading prescriptions and drug doses that have the potential to cause harm and endanger the patient's health can be reduced by building electronic prescription applications (e-prescribing). The purpose of the development of e-prescribing is that prescription data that has been previously given to patients, can be traced to the history of prescription administration. A patient can seek treatment at more than one health provider organization so that prescription data provided by each health provider can ideally be traced and accessed through smartphone devices that are currently widely used by patients. In this research, a mobile application for electronic prescription has been built using RESTful Web Service as a WEB API that is used to integrate various prescription data from health providers. On the client-side mobile applications are used to access electronic prescription services. This research has provided an alternative prescription with information retrieval that is faster, more economical in the use of paper media, and integration of health information can be done in a framework so that it will improve health services to patients.

The Connected Community Pharmacy: Benefits for Healthcare and Implications for Health Policy.

The need for interoperability of healthcare Information Technology (IT) systems in order to provide safe, efficient, and coordinated healthcare is universally recognized. Various health economies, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, are seeking to develop regional, state-wide, or national systems of healthcare interoperability. In England, the community pharmacy network is a significant health provider, with important implications for provision of healthcare in deprived areas because of its accessibility. Historically, however, community pharmacies have operated on a silo basis, and have not shared information on their activities with, or been able to access information from, other National Health Service (NHS) healthcare providers. The development of services such as the Electronic Prescription Service and the Summary Care Record in England have helped to connect community pharmacy with the NHS infrastructure, and more comprehensive systems and datasets are proposed to integrate community pharmacy with the NHS in future. This paper will review the benefits of the connected community pharmacy, based on developments to date and reviewing evidence from other countries. It will describe some of the future developments that will support the connected community pharmacy in England, and discuss some of the implications for pharmacists and health policy makers.

The Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on Community Pharmacy

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are transforming health services throughout the world. Health information and technologies (HITs) involve application of information processing using computer for storage, retrieval, sharing and use of information and knowledge for communication by a pharmacist. Similarly electronic prescription (EP) services have made the dispensing and reimbursement processes more efficient. Maintenance of patient record become easy by using ICTs. Barcode identification of medicines can be used to reduce medicine administration errors and to improve the medication history of patients. Telecare using digital communications technology provides healthcare consultations and other health care services to rural, old &amp; handicap patients easily and improves their access to healthcare by reducing their hospital attendance. In developing countries like India, it is quite a challenging task to provide access to information and communication technologies. As the geographical diversity is also a challenging for implementation of ICTs at everywhere. Information and technologies are giving a way to access the data all over the globe. ICTs have brought transformation in education in all over the world. Information and technologies are removing barriers from learning education. ICT applications are becoming indispensable tools for traditional and vocational education. In the field of pharmaceutical sciences, ICTs can further enhance the quality of education. As lots of modifications and newer drugs are coming in the market, it is quite a challenging task to a pharmacist to update knowledge to serve the society in an efficient way. ICT can be utilized in health care to improve quality of patient centric services.