title: Addition of electronic prescription transmission to computerized prescriber order entry: Effect on dispensing errors in community pharmacies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The addition of electronic prescription transmission to computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) and its effect on dispensing errors in community pharmacies were evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  A controlled, before-and-after trial to measure the effect of electronic prescribing on dispensing errors in two control clinics and one e-prescribing clinic already using CPOE was conducted between January and November 2006. Prescriptions documented within the CPOE system were reconciled with dispensed prescription information from participating pharmacy chains via a national pharmacy information exchange network. Dispensing errors were defined as discrepancies between the prescriber's written orders and the dispensed prescription information. Prescriptions filled at nonparticipating pharmacies were not analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 11,447 prescriptions were written in the control clinics, and 29,575 were written in the e-prescribing clinic. During the intervention period, 2,179 (22%) of 9,905 intervention clinic prescriptions were electronically transmitted, including 621 (28%) available for analysis. There was no significant difference in the dispensing-error rates between the baseline and intervention periods for the control clinics. Similarly, the dispensing-error rates did not differ significantly for the e-prescribing clinic between the baseline and intervention periods for prescriptions that were not electronically transmitted. The e-prescribing clinic's dispensing-error rate for electronically transmitted prescriptions during the intervention was significantly lower than its baseline dispensing-error rate (p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Electronic transmission of prescription data from physicians' offices to a pharmacy nearly halved the risk of dispensing errors compared with generating the prescription with outpatient CPOE and printing it and giving it to the patient.
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02120, USA. thomas.moniz@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Thomas T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Moniz
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Seger
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Keohane
authors.forename: Dianel Lew
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Seger
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rothschild
mesh_terms: D055695:Electronic Prescribing; D006801:Humans; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010594:Pharmacies; D014481:United States