Work

Comparison of Electronic Pharmacy Prescription Records With Manually Collected Medication Histories in an Emergency Department

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: STUDY OBJECTIVE: Medication history is an essential part of patient assessment in emergency care. Patient-reported medication history can be incomplete. We study whether an electronic pharmacy-sourced prescription record can supplement the patient-reported history. METHODS: In a community hospital, we compared the patient-reported history obtained by triage nurses to a proprietary electronic pharmacy record in all emergency department (ED) patients during 3 months. RESULTS: Of 9,426 triaged patients, 5,001 (53%) had at least 1 (mean 7.7) prescription medication in the full-year electronic pharmacy record. Counting only recent prescription medications (supply lasting to at least 7 days before the ED visit), 3,688 patients (39%) had at least 1 (mean 4.0) recent medication. After adjustment for possible false-positive results, recent electronic prescription medication record enriched the patient-reported history by 28% (adding 1.1 drugs per patient). However, only 60% of patients with any active prescription medications from either source had any recent prescription medications in their electronic pharmacy record. CONCLUSION: The electronic pharmacy prescription record augments the manually collected history.

Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine

DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.04.014

Authors: Kin Wah Fung, Mehmet Kayaalp, Fiona Callaghan, Clement J. McDonald

Institutions: National Institutes of Health, United States National Library of Medicine

Language: English

Topic: Electronic Health Records Systems

Subfield: Health Information Management

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,850