Beacon Journal | 01/02/2007 | Group prescribes changes -
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Published on: 1/2/2007
Last Visited: 1/3/2007
Preliminary results from a study of four Dayton doctors who used e-prescribing found those physicians were more likely to order generics or cheaper brand-name drugs, said Marc Sweeney, past president of the Ohio Pharmacists Association and chair of pharmacy practice at the University of Findlay School of Pharmacy.
"It definitely changed prescribing patterns," Sweeney said.
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Not necessarily, Sweeney said.Doctors still can point and click to the wrong drug or dose, creating "a nice, legible error."
Getting doctors to abandon their pen and prescription pad can be challenging.
Initially, Sweeney said, some doctors find it more time-consuming to switch to e-prescribing.
"One of the challenges is getting physicians to adopt it," he said."The reality is, in a time-pressured environment, there's nothing faster than just writing it down on a piece of paper.
"However," he added, "once they're up and running, the nice thing is that it ultimately will save time because they don't have to re-enter information."