Electronic Medicines Management in Primary Care
摘要
Primary care is responsible for a large proportion of healthcare provision in the health economies of the Western world, and a significant proportion of prescribing budgets and volumes. Moreover, in the UK, primary care has arguably had the longest history of engagement with digital systems and health informatics. This chapter describes the functional requirements and benefits of digital systems in primary care which handle information on medicine use and prescription requests. These include (a) GP systems, (b) systems for electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP) from prescribers to community pharmacies, and (c) mobile phone apps (including the NHS App) for prescription requesting and tracking. The chapter also outlines details of prescribing data sources for reporting and metrics, prescribing decision support software and high cost medicines management.