E-drug: Electronic prescribing (cont'd)
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In answer to Mariam's concern about prescription signature validation
and the abuse of a physician's PIN: These kinds of problems arise
with increased use of technology. The answer is to use even more
technology.
Specifically: The ward secretary could be supplied with a scanner
which can 'read' a physician's signature, and compare it with a
sample of the physician's signature, which would already be in the
pharmacy computer's memory.
Most physicians have unique signatures styles, difficult to forge, but
as long as each signature matches the one the physician has already
entered in the computer, the Rx would be 'seen' as valid.
Moreover, a physician's sample signature could not be changed,
unless s(he) presents himself, in person, at the medical records
department and the department manager verified and recorded the
physician's presence there and the alteration of the sample signature.
Natural change of the signature probably does not happen unless the
physician suffered, say, a hand injury, and his writing format changed.
Hope this helps,
Peter Kambic, M.D., P.Ph.
ret. State Peer Review Org.
e-mail: p028673b@pb.seflin.org
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