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Computerized Prescriptions Cut Errors by 66%
More proof that prescriptions should be submitted by computer rather than handwritten appeared recently online in the Journal Health Services Research. In U.S. hospitals with computerized prescription systems there was a 66 percent drop in prescription errors.
Illegible handwriting and transcription errors are responsible for most medication errors in hospitals. A decimal point in the wrong place can lead to a patient's dosage being 10 times the recommended amount. Filling a prescription for the pain medication Celebrex instead of antidepressant Celexa is one of the nore comon errors because of the similarity of names. Most errors go undetected unless they led to an adverse reaction for the patient. Each year, more than one-half million patients sustain injuries or die in hospitals from adverse drug reactions.
Currently, only about 9 percent of hospitals have computerized prescription systems. It takes 12 to 36 months to implement computerized prescribing system.
Posted by Phil Daigle on July 2, 2007 10:31 AM
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