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Research project: Safety, quality and usefulness of general practice prescribing software study

  • Download the full report here
  • NPS has an interest in how general practice prescribing systems can support the quality use of medicines in general practice. 

    Australia has one of the highest rates of computerisation of general practice in the world, with many GPs using computers to generate prescriptions, record progress notes and pathology results, send referrals etc. There are numerous systems available to GPs however there are few criteria to assist them to make decisions about selecting a system that can support safe prescribing. Similarly, there are few standards or guidelines for healthcare funders and software vendors about which features should be implemented in these systems to support safety and quality in the provision of healthcare. This study was undertaken as a first step towards addressing these issues.

    The aims of this project were:

    • to identify the key features of general practice prescribing systems that support patient safety and quality of care and are useful for clinicians and patients;
    • to establish consensus on the most important features;
    • to assess the current safety, quality and usefulness of seven commonly used general practice prescribing software systems; and
    • to make recommendations about the most important features.

    The study was conducted by the NPS Research and Pharmaceutical Decision Support teams, with input from many others. The study guidance group, expert panel members and key informants included Australian general practitioners, pharmacists, consumers, public health practitioners and health informaticians, as well as representatives from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Medical Software Industry Association, National e-Health Transition Authority, and Australian Commission for Safety & Quality in Healthcare.

    The project is now complete. 

    • Download the full report here

    • Research articles

      Sweidan M, Williamson M, Reeve JF, Harvey K, O'Neill JA, Schattner P, Snowdon T Identification of features of electronic prescribing systems to support quality and safety in primary care using a modified Delphi process, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2010,10:21 (Full text)

      Sweidan M, Williamson M, Reeve JF, Harvey K, O’Neill JA, Schattner P, Snowdon T. Evaluation of features to support safety and quality in general practice clinical software. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2011(Full text).

       

Date published: 2008-04-23 00:00:00

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