Tellinger, Karina
karina.tellinger@apoteket.se
Abstract:
In Sweden, 1,000,000 e-prescriptions are transferred each month. The number of e-prescriptions from year 2000 to now has increased dramatically in Sweden. Since year 2000, Apoteket AB (the Swedish Pharmacy Company) has - in cooperation with the county councils - worked to increase the number of e-prescriptions in Sweden.
Reactions to the e-prescription from patients/customers, prescribers, and pharmacy staff, have been very positive. The saving of time and the smoothness of the process are stated as being the greatest benefits of the e-prescription. Both prescribers and pharmacists who use e-prescriptions say that they "win" approximately 30 minutes a day.
There are two clear factors of success, which affect the high use of e-prescriptions in Sweden: the national e-prescription mailbox and the structured implementation strategy.
Using an e-prescription module in an electronic record system, the prescriber makes out a prescription and transfers it to the national e-prescription mailbox. Patients state that the big advantage of this is, that one can choose any one of Sweden's 900 pharmacies to pick up the medication.
To increase the use of e-prescriptions, one must have a strategy for implementation. The model is built on local health services and local pharmacies working together on implementation, and the aim is to continuously use the experiences drawn during the implementation process. The goal of the model is, to get as large an e-prescription use per doctor as possible, on a long term basis.
In Sweden, 1,000,000 e-prescriptions are transferred each month. The number of e-prescriptions from year 2000 to now has increased dramatically in Sweden. Since year 2000, Apoteket AB (the Swedish Pharmacy Company) has - in cooperation with the county councils - worked to increase the number of e-prescriptions in Sweden.
Reactions to the e-prescription from patients/customers, prescribers, and pharmacy staff, have been very positive. The saving of time and the smoothness of the process are stated as being the greatest benefits of the e-prescription. Both prescribers and pharmacists who use e-prescriptions say that they "win" approximately 30 minutes a day.
There are two clear factors of success, which affect the high use of e-prescriptions in Sweden: the national e-prescription mailbox and the structured implementation strategy.
Using an e-prescription module in an electronic record system, the prescriber makes out a prescription and transfers it to the national e-prescription mailbox. Patients state that the big advantage of this is, that one can choose any one of Sweden's 900 pharmacies to pick up the medication.
To increase the use of e-prescriptions, one must have a strategy for implementation. The model is built on local health services and local pharmacies working together on implementation, and the aim is to continuously use the experiences drawn during the implementation process. The goal of the model is, to get as large an e-prescription use per doctor as possible, on a long term basis.
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