Inappropriate Prescribing Practices: The Challenge and Opportunity for Patient Safety.

Prescription errors can lead to serious health problems. Recently, we developed an electronic prescribing system called MOXXI. It helps doctors to decide which drugs to prescribe. The MOXXI system is meant to alert doctors of possible dosing errors, allergic reactions or age risks. It also relays information to doctors about drugs that should not be taken at the same time or with a certain disease.
For nine months, we asked 28 doctors to evaluate the electronic drug alert system. Of 22 419 prescriptions, 29% generated alerts. 14% of these alerts led to changes in prescriptions. In some groups (e.g. dosing errors), about one quarter of prescriptions were changed.
 
Although this system can improve the prescribing process, some questions still need to be addressed. We need to know if these changes help keep patients out of the hospital and in better health. This will be the next major challenge when studying the MOXXI system.