Abstract
The aim of the present study was to measure the attitudes and satisfaction of various stakeholders about an electronic prescribing service (EPS), in order to generate best practice recommendations for further improvement. Relevant stakeholders included physicians from different specialties, pharmacy staff (pharmacists and assistant pharmacists), nurses and outpatients. Participants (n = 283) were randomly selected from several clinical settings in Muscat, Oman. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire to measure their satisfaction with the EPS, as well as their attitude toward it, both before and after its integration with a computerized hospital information and management system (Al-Shifa). The overall level of satisfaction with the integrated EPS was high. Physicians, pharmacy staff and nurses highly agreed that the EPS reduced prescribing errors and they did not want to go back to the paper-based prescription system. Pharmacy staff and nurses viewed the EPS more positively and were more satisfied with it than were physicians (p < 0.05). It was also found that 74% of patients who responded to the survey were either satisfied or very satisfied with the EPS and preferred it over paper-based prescriptions. In conclusion, the majority of stakeholders were generally satisfied with the current status of the EPS, but they also perceived a few key weaknesses. A total of 12 recommendations were offered to improve the EPS in clinical settings in the Sultanate of Oman.
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