The Emerging Role of Electronic Patient Records in Improving Drug Safety in Israel: A Paradigm Whose Time Has Come

Kahan E; NR Kahan

2007, Number 1

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Arch Med Fam 2007; 9 (1)

The Emerging Role of Electronic Patient Records in Improving Drug Safety in Israel: A Paradigm Whose Time Has Come

Kahan E, Kahan NR

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Language: English
References: 9
Page: 61-63
PDF size: 57.65 Kb.

ABSTRACT

The conditions which currently characterize the modern clinical setting which although emanating from unprecedented scientific progress, have paradoxically potentiated the likelihood that medicines may ironically harm those whom they were intended to heal. With this reality becoming ubiquitous throughout the Western world, new technologies and organizational cultures will need to be developed and implemented in all levels of the clinical setting to facilitate the safe use of drugs. Our recent experience in the Israeli primary care setting has demonstrated that the implementation of Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) systems in the managed care setting have provided expanded opportunities for drug utilization surveillance in the community setting. We therefore propose that electronic patient records (EPRs) should play an important role in efforts to improve drug safety in the community setting. Although EPRs data generated in the managed care setting most probably demonstrates the greatest potential to facilitate programs of this kind, it must be clarified that the validity of this data is highly dependant upon the quality of physician data-entry into the EPRs during patient visits. Thus, managed care organizations should dedicate resources to create an organizational culture that encourages complete and accurate information-recording during patient visits through the creation of a work environment conducive to this task.

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