Elske Ammenwerth1, Georg Duftschmid2, Walter Gall2, Werner O Hackl3, Alexander Hoerbst3, Stefan Janzek-Hawlat2, Martina Jeske4, Martin Jung5, Klemens Woertz5, Wolfgang Dorda2. 1. Institute of Biomedical Informatics, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria. Electronic address: elske.ammenwerth@umit.at. 2. Section for Medical Information Management and Imaging, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. 3. Institute of Biomedical Informatics, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria. 4. Pharmacy Department, Innsbruck University Hospital, Austria. 5. Institute of Health Informatics, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To manage medication treatment and to assure medication safety, health care professionals need a complete overview of all drugs that have been prescribed or are taken by a patient. In 2009, Austria launched the pilot project "e-Medikation" in three pilot regions. E-Medikation gives access to a patient's nationwide medication list and includes medication safety checks. The objective of this paper is to report on the evaluation results and lessons learnt. METHODS: A formative evaluation study performed between July and December 2011 comprised a standardized survey of participating physicians, pharmacists, and patients, as well as an analysis of the e-Medikation log files. RESULTS: During the evaluation period, 18,310 prescriptions and 13,797 dispensings were documented, and 22,359 medication safety checks were performed. Overall, 61 physicians, 68 pharmacists, and 553 patients responded to a written survey. The results showed high acceptance of the idea of e-Medikation among pharmacists and patients and mixed acceptance among physicians. The satisfaction with the quality of the software used in the pilot project was low. CONCLUSIONS: The overall aim to increase medication safety seems achievable through e-Medikation, but several limitations of the pilot project need to be solved before a national rollout. Based on the evaluation results and after redesign of e-Medikation, Austria is now planning a nationwide introduction of e-Medikation starting in 2015.
PURPOSE: To manage medication treatment and to assure medication safety, health care professionals need a complete overview of all drugs that have been prescribed or are taken by a patient. In 2009, Austria launched the pilot project "e-Medikation" in three pilot regions. E-Medikation gives access to a patient's nationwide medication list and includes medication safety checks. The objective of this paper is to report on the evaluation results and lessons learnt. METHODS: A formative evaluation study performed between July and December 2011 comprised a standardized survey of participating physicians, pharmacists, and patients, as well as an analysis of the e-Medikation log files. RESULTS: During the evaluation period, 18,310 prescriptions and 13,797 dispensings were documented, and 22,359 medication safety checks were performed. Overall, 61 physicians, 68 pharmacists, and 553 patients responded to a written survey. The results showed high acceptance of the idea of e-Medikation among pharmacists and patients and mixed acceptance among physicians. The satisfaction with the quality of the software used in the pilot project was low. CONCLUSIONS: The overall aim to increase medication safety seems achievable through e-Medikation, but several limitations of the pilot project need to be solved before a national rollout. Based on the evaluation results and after redesign of e-Medikation, Austria is now planning a nationwide introduction of e-Medikation starting in 2015.
Authors: W O Hackl; A Hoerbst; G Duftschmid; W Gall; S Janzek-Hawlat; M Jung; K Woertz; W Dorda; E Ammenwerth Journal: Appl Clin Inform Date: 2014-06-04 Impact factor: 2.342
Authors: Christoph Rinner; Wilfried Grossmann; Simone Katja Sauter; Michael Wolzt; Walter Gall Journal: Biomed Res Int Date: 2015-11-22 Impact factor: 3.411
Authors: Catherine Waldron; Joan Cahill; Sam Cromie; Tim Delaney; Sean P Kennelly; Joshua M Pevnick; Tamasine Grimes Journal: BMC Med Inform Decis Mak Date: 2021-11-03 Impact factor: 2.796