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VA chief: Electronic prescriptions lead to nearly 100% accuracy
Pharmacy Regulation Resource, August 3, 2006
Electronic prescription systems are crucial to preventing medication errors, said R. James Nicholson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) in a letter to USA Today this week.
All VA medical centers use a bar-coded wristband system to ensure the right patient gets the right medication in the right dose at the right time, Nicholson wrote. The system is integrated with the VA's electronic health records, with impressive results. "VA prescribes medication to patients with an accuracy rate of 99.993%, a standard that simply does not exist anywhere else in American healthcare," he added. "And we maintained this standard of excellence while filling 231 million prescriptions in 2005."
Electronic prescriptions also eliminate mistakes caused by bad handwriting and allow error checks to prevent meds from being given to patients who might have allergic reactions, Nicholson wrote.
Read the letter here.
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