Challenges and lessons learned
ePrescribing can support the entire medicines use process, enabling medications to be managed electronically from prescribing through to supply and administration. The resources here, although no longer maintained, may be useful to trusts planning ePrescribing implementations.
Electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) will increasingly impact on the working lives of healthcare staff working in hospitals in the years ahead.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals who have a role in prescribing, supplying or administering medicines in hospitals will all be affected when their trusts join the pioneers who have already adopted this new technology.
Information resources commissioned by NHS Connecting for Health, and developed by an independent team of researchers, have been made available to help NHS staff who may be involved in the planning, implementation, development and use of ePrescribing.
The report ‘ePrescribing in hospitals – challenges and lessons learned' (PDF, 2Mb) provides a detailed but user-friendly insight into all the key issues associated with these systems. It draws on the experiences of a number of employees in different trusts who have been there and learnt the lessons. An accompanying presentation (PowerPoint, 3Mb) is also available.
The report is backed-up by series of shorter briefing documents, each aimed at a particular group, specifically:
The resources make clear that, although challenging, ePrescribing is very achievable, and the benefits are well worth the effort. But careful planning and a multidisciplinary team effort are central to achieving a successful ePrescribing implementation.