British journal of clinical pharmacology
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Br J Clin Pharmacol · Feb 2008
Comparative StudyThe effects of electronic prescribing on the quality of prescribing.
Electronic prescribing has been shown to reduce prescribing errors in US hospitals. However we know little about its effect on prescribing quality, or its effectiveness in UK hospitals where systems for medication prescribing and supply are very different. Hospital pharmacists already review prescriptions to both detect errors and improve prescription quality. ⋯ EP improved the quality of prescribing by reducing both prescribing errors and pharmacists' clinical interventions. Prescribers and pharmacists need to be aware of new types of error with EP, so that they can best target their activities to reduce clinical risk. Pharmacists may need to change the way they work to complement, rather than duplicate, the benefits of EP.