A review of the efficiency of the computerized physician order entry system for prescribing drugs in the clinical setting

Background and aims: Medication errors occur frequently in medical care and impose a highcost economically. Therefore, prescribing medicine electronically provides an opportunity to reducethe number of medication errors. This study discusses computerized physician order entry asa clinical information system to support physicians in prescribing drugs for patient care.Method: The data were collected by searching PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Embasedatabases. The searched keywords were: “computerized physician order entry”, “clinical informationsystem”, “medication error”, “drug usage evaluation”, and “drug administration”. Reviewarticles, duplicate publications, and non-relevant articles were excluded. The search was limitedto studies in the English language.Results: A clinical information system equipped with an electronic database of drugs can be usedto make decisions about prescribing drugs. Computerized physician order entry systems alongwith decision support for drug administration (checking drug allergies, drug interactions, anddose calculation), are considered suitable solutions to reduce medication errors and standardizemedical care. This strategy can prevent ۷۲.۷% of errors in the drug ordering phase.Conclusion: Clinical information systems can be used to support the drug administration process(drug ordering, dispensing, and monitoring) and provide the medical team with immediate alertsand key information about medications and the patient’s condition, which leads to the reductionof medication errors. Therefore, since the drug usage evaluation system is considered one of thetypes of clinical information systems, the design and implementation of these systems can greatlyhelp the process of drug prescription, monitoring, and management.

Keywords:

Computerized physician order entry , clinical information system , drug usage evaluation , medication error