Common prescribing mistakes still an issue with electronic systems

Prescribing mistakes are still as prevalent in some outpatient electronic prescribing systems as manual systems, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).

Researchers analyzed about 4,000 electronic prescriptions looking for mistakes made and their potential to cause harm. Of those analyzed 452 contained errors, 162 of which researchers categorized as potentially harmful.

However, researchers found that the number of mistakes varied depending on the system used. Thirteen systems were analyzed and the number of mistakes ranged from 5% to 37%.

Read more about the study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.