Safety and Quality in General Practice Clinical Software

Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) offers an opportunity to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care and is now the norm in many countries. There is evidence to show that e-prescribing (often with clinical decision support) is associated with a reduction in medication errors and incomplete or unclear orders, improved drug allergy detection and greater adherence with clinical practice guidelines. There are, however, also reports of unintended negative consequences of e-prescribing, for example, unfavourable effects on workflow and the introduction of new types of errors.

In Australia, general practitioners (GPs) have been using clinical software systems that include e-prescribing for more than 15 years, with rapid uptake encouraged by government incentives in the 1990s. This report, "Evaluation of features to support safety and quality in general practice clinical software", attempts to find out if current systems include features that facilitate improved patient safety and care, with a focus on quality use of medicines. Quality use of medicines is the judicious, effective and safe use of medicines, and in terms of clinical software functionality it encompasses the entire medication management process.