Abstract
For people in many countries, their predominant experience of healthcare will be of primary care, whether that is the general medical practitioner’s consulting room in UK or European medical centres, the family physician’s office in the United States, or through community pharmacies or nurse-led clinics in any of these settings. Throughout the Western world, many healthcare needs are met without the need for hospital referral, and the allocation of resources reflects that. In the UK NHS, prescribing in primary care accounts for around 80 % of the total medicines budget [1].
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Picton C, Morris S. What you need to know about prescribing, the “drugs bill” and medicines management. National Prescribing Centre; 2008. www.npc.nhs.uk/resources/nhs_guide_for_managers.pdf. Accessed on Sep 2012.
Anon. Non-medical prescribing. Drug Ther Bull. 2006;44:33–7.
For discussion, see Department of Health, Royal College of General Practitioners, British Medical Association. The good practice guidelines for GP electronic health records. 2011, v4, p. 174. http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/infogov/links/gpelec2011.pdf.
For example, the Umbrian regional healthcare system in Italy (see Barbarito F. Regional service card health and social care information system. Presented at opportunities in e-Health, London, 30 Nov 2006).
Sjoborg B, Backstrom T, et al. Design and implementation of a point-of-care computerised system for drug therapy in Stockholm metropolitan health region – bridging the gap between knowledge and practice. Int J Med Inform. 2007;76:497–506.
RCGP Informatics Group. Shared record professional guidance report. 2009. http://www.rcgp.org.uk/pdf/Health_Informatics_SRPG_final_report.pdf. Accessed on Apr 2012.
NHS connecting for health electronic prescribing in hospitals: challenges and lessons learnt. 2009. p. 74. http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/eprescribing.
Rollason W, Khunti K, et al. Variation in the recording of diabetes diagnostic data in primary care computer systems; implications for the quality of care. Inform Prim Care. 2009;17(2):113–9. Accessed on Apr 2012.
Farfan-Sedano FJ, Terron Cuadrado M, et al. Implementation of SNOMED-CT to the medicines database of a general hospital. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2009;148:123–30.
De Lusignan S, Van Weel C. The use of routinely collected computer data for research in primary care: opportunities and challenges. Fam Pract. 2006;23:253–63. for a full discussion of the use of primary care data.
Pous MF, Camporese M, et al. Quality assessment of information about medications in primary care electronic patient record (EPR) systems. Inform Prim Care. 2010;18:109–16.
Rogers JE, Wroe CJ, et al. Automated quality checks on repeat prescribing. Br J Gen Pract. 2003;53:838–44.
Zimmerman CR, Chaffee BW, et al. Maintaining the enterprise-wide continuity and intraoperability of patient allergy data. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2009;66:671–9.
Fincham J. E-prescribing: the electronic transformation of medicine. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett; 2009. p. 23–31.
Taheri L. Completing the prescription process in a virtual world – EPS release 2. Pharm J. 2009;283:175–6.
Toth-Pal E, Wardh I, et al. A guideline-based computerised decision support system (CDSS) to influence general practitioners’ management of heart failure. Inform Prim Care. 2008;16:29–39.
De Lusignan S, van Vlymen J, et al. Using computers to identify non-compliant people at increased risk of osteoporotic fractures in general practice: a cross sectional study. Osteoporos Int. 2006;17:1808–14.
Iliffe S, Austin T, et al. Design and implementation of a computer decision support system for the diagnosis and management of dementia syndromes in primary care. Methods Inf Med. 2002;41:98–104.
Clark DH, Carter W, et al. How often do GPs use rapid computer access to laboratory results? A description of 18 months’ use by 72 practices in Tayside. Inform Prim Care. 2004;12(1):35–9.
Morris CJ, Savelyich BS, et al. Patient safety features of clinical computer systems: questionnaire survey of GP views. Qual Saf Health Care. 2005;14:164–8.
Avery AJ, Savelyich BS, et al. Identifying and establsing consensus on the most important safety features of GP computer systems; an e-Delphi study. Inform Prim Care. 2005;13(1):3–12.
Nordman J, Verhaak P, et al. Consulting room computers and their effect on general practitioner-patient communication. Fam Pract. 2010;27(6):644–51.
Refsum C, Kumarapeli P, et al. Measuring the impact of different brands of computer system on the clinical consultation: a pilot study. Inform Prim Care. 2008;16(2):119–27.
Simonaitis L, Belsito A, et al. Aggregation of pharmacy dispensing data into a unified patient medication history. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2008;6:1135.
Barbarito F. Regional service card health and social care information system. Presented at opportunities in e-Health, London, 30 Nov 2006.
Mundy D, Chadwick DW. Electronic transfer of prescriptions: towards realizing the dream. Int J Electron Healthc. 2004;1:112–25.
For full business processes of the England EPS, see NHS Connecting for Health. EPS Release 2. Business process guidance for initial implementers. 2009. http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/eps/suppliers/guidance. Accessed on Apr 2012.
For discussion of eTP security issues, see Mundy DP, Chadwick DW. Security issues in the electronic transfer of prescriptions. Med Inform Internet Med. 2003;28:253–77.
Porteous T, Bond C, et al. Electronic transfer of prescription related information: comparing the views of patients, general practitioners and pharmacists. Br J Gen Pract. 2003;53(488):204–9.
Harvey J, Avery A, et al. A constructivist approach: using formative evaluation to inform the electronic prescription service in primary care, England. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011;169:374–8.
Fincham J. E-prescribing: the electronic transformation of medicine. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett; 2009. p. 25–6.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Good dispensing guidelines. 2009. http://www.rpharms.com/best-practice/good-dispensing.asp. Accessed on Apr 2012.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Professional standards and guidance for the sale and supply of medicines. http://www.rpharms.com/archive-documents/coepsgssmeds.pdf. Accessed on Apr 2012.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goundrey-Smith, S. (2013). Electronic Medicines Management in Primary Care. In: Information Technology in Pharmacy. Health Informatics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2780-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2780-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2779-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-2780-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)