A prescription for enhancing electronic prescribing safety

Abstract

While electronic prescribing has been shown to reduce medication errors and improve prescribing safety, it is vulnerable to error-prone processes. We review six intersecting areas in which changes to electronic prescribing systems, particularly in the outpatient setting, could transform medication ordering quality and safety. We recommend incorporating medication indications into electronic prescribing, establishing a single shared online medication list, implementing the transmission of electronic cancellation orders to pharmacies (CancelRx) to ensure that drugs are safely and reliably discontinued, implementing standardized structured and codified prescription instructions, reengineering clinical decision support, and redesigning electronic prescribing to facilitate the ordering of nondrug alternatives.