Benefits and challenges of electronic pharmaceutical prescriptions

Introduction: Public health policies place significant emphasis on the prescription process, and ongoing efforts are required to support the development of optimal and adequate prescription practices in teaching hospitals.This study aims to identify advantages and challenges of electronic prescription in the teaching hospitals affiliated with Ardabil University of Medical Sciences.Methods: The content analysis approach was used to conduct the current qualitative investigation in 2023.Four beneficiaries (physicians, pharmacy technicians, patients, and insurance experts) participated in this study to analyze the benefits and challenges of electronic prescription.These beneficiaries were purposefully engaged in the interviews.MAXQDA2020 software was used for data analysis.Results: Participants' perspectives indicate that the most important benefits are reducing medication errors by eliminating the illegibility of medication orders and enhancing the security and confidentiality of information.The intermittent interruptions, slow internet speed, incomplete infrastructure, difficulty in searching for drugs, lack of warnings regarding drug interactions, and inadequate connection with clinical decision support systems are also the main challenges of this system. Conclusion:The study demonstrates that the implementation of the electronic prescribing system is essential for enhancing the healthcare system.It is necessary to effectively introduce the benefits of this system and provide the required training in various formats for proper usage by the users.Continuous communication with users and receiving their feedback will lead to the successful implementation of electronic prescription and help eliminate the negative aspects of the system.