Is computer prescription order entry the complementary piece of drug safety to mandating bar codes?
In order to take advantage of a bar code, you’ve got to have a system that enables reading the bar code information. Electronic patient record and computerized prescription order entry would obviously help with that, too. Bar code standards create an added incentive for hospitals and other healthcare organizations to adopt these kinds of systems. They hold so much potential relative to reducing medical errors and overall healthcare costs. NA: Will you make the review [and adverse reporting] systems more open to the public? We mainly need to focus on making sure we’re setting up regulations that encourage effective communication about how products should be used. Can people get the information they need on benefits and risks clearly and concisely? Can doctors get the information they need quickly about appropriate prescribing? Right now, there are not a whole lot of doctors that use the FDA-approved label all that extensively for their prescribing behavior. I want that to change. Just t
