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Is India Ready for E-prescriptions?|
- By Muntazir Abbas, May 30, 2008 1756 hrs IST
- Tags : Is India Ready for E-prescriptions
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E-prescription is new to Indian healthcare arena. With modern technologies and international health service companies coming in, the traditional paper prescription practice has now become pass . Now, patients can e-prescribe medicines sans hassle. The trend is more popular in west as compared to Asian countries. The United States has taken a lead, with more than 70% patients getting medication through e-prescribing. The usage of knowledge-based applications and computing has increased significantly among clinicians, doctors, and pharmacists over the past few years, but this trend is yet to get momentum.
E-prescriptions are computer-generated electronic exchange of prescription information provided by clinicians. It's sent directly to a requisite pharmacy by the physicians. The system operates through software that helps physicians to order, record, and transmit a prescription directly to the pharmacist with appropriate information about dosage and frequency. This method is secure and saves time, as well as eliminates paper work that may contain writing errors, and ambiguity. In addition, it checks potential medication errors such as incorrect dosage and wrong drug intake.
"The software also allows the doctor to prescribe drugs based on generic name with multiple choices. The e-prescription module can be incorporated in the electronic health record of a hospital information system. With this connectivity, pharmacists also are able to respond directly with questions or requests for additional information or refills. As a result, fewer errors are made and patient safety is protected," says K. Ganapathy, president of the Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation. However, e-prescription application is comprehensive and requires software integration.
SureScripts offers 'Pharmacy Health Information Exchange', which is one of the major operating software systems for e-prescriptions worldwide. The system helps in getting quick, convenient, and legible medication information. The physician technology companies that operate in electronic data service providers include Athena Health, Meditech, MedPlus, Misys, NaviMedix, Noteworhty, OA Systems, Ochsner, Polaris - Epichart, Purkinje, and Sonix.
Moreover, it should be noticed that communication technology has taken a giant leap in recent times. People from metros, cities, and urban towns rely on such systems. "This trend is not popular as most of the chemists lack technological infrastructure here. We do not get requests directly from physicians other than few medical requests for rarely available drugs," opined a pharmacist associated with Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, which owns and operates more than 40 pharmacies throughout the National Capital Region (NCR).
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