Errors Bedevil e-Prescriptions

More than one out of 10 computer-generated outpatient prescriptions reviewed in a recent study contained errors, a rate comparable to that of hand-written prescriptions, according to a study published online last week by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Nearly two-thirds of the errors involved missing information, and more than a third of them could have led to adverse drug events, the study found. The Boston-area researchers who conducted the study reviewed 3,850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial pharmacy chain in three states during a four-week period in 2008.

The type of computerized prescribing system used to generate the prescriptions appeared to be a factor, with error rates varying by system from 5.1 percent to 37.5 percent. The variation in the "number, type, and severity of errors" suggested that "some systems may be better at preventing errors than others," the researchers wrote in the study abstract.

"Implementing a computerized prescribing system without comprehensive functionality and processes in place to ensure meaningful system use does not decrease medication errors," they concluded."