Electronic prescribing for the elderly: will it improve medication usage?

Drug treatment of the elderly is problematic for various reasons. These include the risks of drug interactions, contraindications, incorrect dose and adverse events. Electronic prescribing is a promising tool which should help solve many of the problems associated with the use of medications in the elderly by providing information on drug selection, prescription checks, and information about drugs and prescriptions. Nevertheless, electronic prescribing must be improved by providing a user-friendly interface, structured drug data-bases, and the capacity to generate both criticism and suggestions, if it is to progressively replace pen and paper in the drug prescription process.