The Role of E-Prescription in Reducing Medication Error in The Prescribing Stage at The Puskesmas Mojoanyar, East Java

Abstract

Electronic prescription or e-prescription has been considered as a solution to overcome errors in the early stage of medicines use. However, the electronic prescribing is still not widely implemented in Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to identify the role of electronic prescription in minimizing the incidence of medication errors at the prescribing stage. A cross-sectional study was conducted to compare errors between electronic and hand-written prescriptions in primary health care Mojoanyar. Mojokerto, East Java. Prescriptions were collected retrospectively using purposive and quota sampling based on predetermined criteria. A checklist form was used to collect and review prescriptions during the period February March 2021 (hand-written prescriptions) and December 2022 January 2023 (e-prescriptions). Errors in prescribing were identified in aspects related to the prescription writing process (incompleteness information; illegibility writing) and aspects related to drug selection decisions (drug interaction, drug dosage form, drug dosing and therapeutic duplication). The Chi-square test was used for testing relationships between categorical variables as appropriate. The data were presented in frequency and percentage using descriptive statistics. A total of 2570 prescriptions from 656 patients were reviewed for errors in which 1275 (328 patients) hand-written and 1295 (328 patients) electronic prescriptions. The results showed that incompleteness information was found to be significantly higher in hand-written compared to electronic prescriptions (p < 0.05). Illegible writing was only found in 92 (7.22%) hand-written prescriptions. The risk of drug interactions and other errors in drug selection decisions were not reduced by electronic prescribing. Electronic prescription was able to reduce prescribing errors, especially in the writing process, while for treatment decision it was necessary to add feature to the electronic support system.

Keywords

• errors
• electronic prescribing
• hand-written
• primary health care