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Gauging The Heartbeat Of E-Prescriptions? - A Retrospective Analysis, Samuel D. Hodge Jr., Alison Kilcourse

Samuel D. Hodge Jr.

Medication can treat infectious diseases, alleviate pain, and prevent complications from chronic illnesses. But they can also be harmful if not used properly. Medication errors injure at least 1.5 million people each year and studies demonstrate that these errors are due to illegible handwriting, improper prescribing, order miscommunication, product labeling, compounding, and misuse.

Conversion to an e-prescription system is the most prevalent recommendation to make this process safer. This technology generates medical prescriptions by using an automated data-entry system. Compared to paper or faxed prescriptions, e-prescribing is said to increase medication safety, provide better control of expenses, improve prescribing accuracy …