Most physicians in the public and private healthcare domains are issuing computer
generated and handwritten prescriptions. In the primary healthcare, policy requires that
pharmacists dispense prescriptions under strict supervision. The recent evolution of the
healthcare sector in electronic prescription enhances transmission of physicians’ intentions
directly to a selected dispensing pharmacy. Although all the workflow in electronic prescriptions
reflect physical entries, the PMR system is vital to make point of order entry checks.
In secondary care, the workflow in electronic prescriptions is unique. In the pharmacy
department, we regularly conduct clinical substantiations in the ward setting before dispensing in
the main pharmacy without referring to electronic prescribing systems. During the reference
phase, PMR served to provide a conclusion of patient’s health and drug reaction, vital to
influence the dispensing process (Ojeleye, et al. 27). These validation processes are a vital
component of delivering safe and quality care for patients by reducing prescription errors and
promoting accuracy on dosing, drug interactions, and potential allergies.
In most clinical settings, the PMR systems are independent although terminals may be
collaborated if there is more than one at a dispensing facility. To avoid indecipherable orders and
errors with written prescriptions that may result to incorrect administration and unavailability of
drugs, we have integrated different PMR systems in a flexible design to enhance the efficiencies
by incorporating patient-specific demographics, medication, and clinical data to support
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medication reviews to appropriateness (PSNC, Royal Pharmaceutical Society). The integration
of PMR systems serves a vital role in managing inventory because it can interact fully with other
integrated clinical systems.
Together with the manual safety features implemented by pharmacists, we largely
utilized PMR in primary and secondary care to augment pharmacists’ clinical decisions and safe
dispensing of drugs during order entry. The embedded safety features alert pharmacists on
potentially hazardous medications, drug interactions, errors, combinations, and adverse effects.
Other technological innovations including electronic prescribing systems, automations, and bar
coding are vital to minimize the occurrence of medication errors in different practice settings,
although the productivity of some features are sub-optimal.
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Works Cited
Ojeleye, Oluwagbemileke, et al. "The evidence for the effectiveness of safety alerts in electronic
patient medication record systems at the point of pharmacy order entry: a systematic
review." BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, vol. 13, no. 1, 2013.
PSNC. "Pharmacy System (PMRs) Requested Features and Development." PSNC Main
Site, 2021, psnc.org.uk/contract-it/pharmacy-it/pharmacy-system-suppliers/making-
your-pharmacy-system-work-for-you/.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society. "Pharmacist access to patient records will be a local
decision." The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2013.