e-Prescribing resources

Thanks Lisa. I recently received a document comparing the current ROP wording with new wording for surveys after Jan 2019. (Is there a way to attach documents? I can upload). Perhaps it's not written in stone yet. I would rather see a requirement for an updated Canadian version than a wholesale switch to the U.S. version.

Patti

Great question Patti.

The expected release of the updated ISMP Canada's Do Not Use Abbreviations list is May 2018.

As for Accreditation Canada recommending the US list in their ROP, that confuses me. I have access to the QMentum Medication Management Standards for surveys starting after Jan 2018, and the test for compliance 14.6.1 specifically refers to ISMP Canada's Do Not Use list.

Can you double check? I know the ROP Handbook is a separate document. Are other organizations seeing this as well.

Is there anyone from Accreditation Canada on this community?? Please comment if you are.

Thanks
Lisa
ISMP Canada

Hi Lisa,

Will the update be to the ISMP Canada list or the ISMP U.S. list? And do you know when it will happen?

Our current electronic systems (both off the shelf and grown in house), pre-printed orders and forms, etc were all designed/ customized using the ISMP Canada DO NOT USE list. We've been looking at the impact of updating these systems/ forms etc, as we see that Accreditation Canada has recently changed the ROP to reflect the U.S. list. It will be a big undertaking for us, and work that needs to be done sooner rather than later!

Wondering too if others are anticipating a lot of work required to update systems?

Thanks,
Patti

Recent publication: Audit on the Use of Dangerous Abbreviations, Symbols, and Dose Designations in Paper Compared to Electronic Medication Orders

Electronic medication orders are significantly less likely to contain dangerous abbreviations when compared to paper orders. The most commonly used abbreviations on paper were D/C, OD, cc, U and abbreviating drug names. The standardization of electronic systems can prevent these potential interpretation errors primarily by building the drug library accurately and appropriately.

So make sure to incorporate ISMP Canada’s DO NOT USE list to when creating data fields: www.ismp-canada.org/download/ISMPCanadaListOfDangerousAbbreviations.pdf

P.S. – an updated DO NOT USE list is being worked on – coming soon…..

Lisa
ISMP Canada

PrescribeIT^TM, Canada's national e-prescribing service, has launched in Alberta!

Read here about the first community in Alberta, Lethbridge , where prescribers and pharmacists are now using this service.

Kind regards,
Seema

Good article. It has been a challenge to establish that there should be a recording of the indication for a prescription. I agree that the 'therapeutic intent' as described in the article is a different concept than 'indication' and can be a valuable piece of information to have in the medical record. It is not unusual for someone looking at a patient's medication list and not understanding why that patient was given specific medications. When a patient has multiple conditions and is on multiple medications it may be difficult to decide which medications can be safely adjusted without knowing the 'therapeutic intent'.

Stuart Nelson and Mark Tuttle were involved with the initial work on the UMLS and also with the RxNorm.

I was glad to see that there was specific mention of SNOMED for the clinical terminology. I think that prescriptions should include the indication and the therapeutic intent. I am sure that there will be howls of protest but it should be understood that it is only the first time that a prescription is written for a specific patient that all this info would need to be entered. When that medication is to be refilled the EMR should provide a button that the user can click to do the refill and the indication with the therapeutic intent would be copied without any extra effort.