<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>eHealth Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC), with funding from Canada Health Infoway, are considering introducing a Drug Information System (DIS). This system will introduce and integrate ePrescribing, eDispensing and electronic data interchange (two-way electronic order communication between physicians via electronic medical records (EMR) systems and pharmacists via pharmacy management systems (PMS) regarding medications).</p> <p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To gather perceptions of family physicians, community pharmacists and patients on the DIS being implemented in Ontario. Before such an expensive large-scale system is implemented, areas of concerns should be identified to maximize utilization of the system.</p> <p><strong>Study Design: </strong>Three different group-specific electronic and paper questionnaires</p> <p><strong>Setting: </strong>Family physicians, community pharmacists and patients. The aim was to receive <strong>35</strong> questionnaire responses from each group from Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph and the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario. <strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>A<strong> </strong>Literature search was conducted to study the current two-way electronic order communication systems and perceptions of prescribers, dispensers and patients on ePrescribing or eDispensing within primary care. Group-specific questionnaires, used with consent from a Scottish study, were altered and tailored for Ontarians, and distributed to all 3 groups via convenience and snowball sampling. Study findings were compared to the same Scottish study.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>The ‘adjusted’ response rates were 82% (patients), 72% (community pharmacists) and 60% (family physicians). All three groups were in favour of DIS being implemented in Ontario. Generally only the pharmacist group had any knowledge of DIS before this survey. Most respondents agreed that patient care would improve with the implementation of DIS.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Implementation of the DIS in Ontario is perceived as a good idea amongst all pharmacists, family physicians and patients. However, eHealth Ontario and MOHLTC need to increase awareness amongst all three, but mostly consumer and prescriber groups of the potential benefits of the DIS in order for them to accept and adapt to this new system. <strong> </strong></p> / Master of Science (MSc)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/12060 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Qureshi, Hafsa |
| Contributors | McKibbon, Ann, eHealth |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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