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Combining Electronic Rx and Clinical Decision May Cut Medication Error

According to a report from CMIO, combining electronic prescriptions with clinical decision support (CDS) may significantly cut down on medication errors.

One of the more common types of prescription errors are caused by illegible handwriting. Pharmacists could end up misinterpreting what the doctor has written.

E-prescribing alone helps to diminish errors like this; however, adding CDS could bring an even greater reduction. This comes as a result of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University research on over 9,000 prescriptions written between Sept. 2005 and Nov. 2006. 

They found that including instances of illegible handwriting, for every 100 prescriptions, there were 212.6 prescribing errors. That means 2 errors per prescription occurred.

When illegible handwriting was not factored in, for every 100 prescriptions there were 36.7 errors, a significantly lower amount. They believe that with e-prescribing all instances of illegible handwriting would be eliminated. With basic CDS, 32 percent of other errors could be detected and with advanced CDS, 57 percent could be eliminated.

Prescription errors could lead to serious, even life-threatening injuries. If you were the victim of this type of medical negligence, you should consult with a Louisville, Kentucky medication error attorney as soon as possible. You could be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

Contacting a Louisville, Kentucky Medication Error Attorney

A Louisville, Kentucky medication error attorney at Gray and White can help you handle every aspect of your medication error claim. If you’ve been injured in Kentucky, contact us today for a free evaluation of your case – 1-800-634-8767 or 502-210- 8942.

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