Abstract
Since the Institute of Medicine's 1999 landmark report on patient safety, much literature have been published to show the advantages and disadvantages of information systems such as computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) on improving the delivery of health care. The primary end points of this study were to assess the potential impact of CPOE on patient safety, as well as pharmacy practice and profession—based on the experience and/or opinions of selected pharmacy leaders in California. A qualitative method using multidimensional scaling (MDS), a hypothesis generating tool, was used for data analysis. Most pharmacy leaders held positive opinions regarding the impact of CPOE on the pharmacy practice and the profession, with varying concerns regarding its impact on practice and safety. The MDS analysis showed that leaders from community hospitals held the most optimistic beliefs on CPOE's impact compared with leaders from the academic medical centers and government hospitals whom held concerns over the effect on pharmacy workflow, staffing requirements, and safety. Further studies with more observations should be conducted to assess the impact of CPOE on the pharmacy department.
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