E-scripts are supposed to make everything easier...and error-free.
What both of these statements forget is that humans are required to make use of them.
Humans are the X factor.
Humans (read: prescribers) tend to make things more difficult.
Other humans (read: pharmacists) are, fortunately, there to clean up the mess and make sense of it.
Prescription received electronically by the pharmacy: "Entercourts 9mg"
Okay. First read, it's obviously Entocort.
But...Entocort is only available as 3mg.
Hmm. Second glance, maybe it's Intercourse? You know, just a little dose.
Perhaps a permission slip for a lawyer?
Of course it's the weekend.
Of course the prescriber must be paged.
Of course he calls right back.
CP: Hiya.
Adopter of New Technology Means Admission of Nothing: Howdy. What seems to be the trouble?
CP: This new-fangled technology seems to have taken what you entered, shredded it, reassembled it, then shot it onto my computer like a study hall spitball to the chalkboard.
ANTMAN: What was it?
CP: It came across as "EnterCourts".
ANTMAN: That's what I typed.
CP: Oh. Then you're the spitwad.
ANTMAN: "I didn't really know how to spell it. I was going off of someone else's notes."
CP: I see. "How did the computer allow you to type something that doesn't exist?" Better yet, "why are you prescribing something you don't know how to prescribe?"
ANTMAN: Well I knew what I wanted and assumed it was close and you'd figure it out for me.
CP: I appreciate your (totally warranted) faith in me but I still had to waste my time tracking you down...on a weekend. How about next time you just use the phone? Last I checked, prescribers' phones allowed outgoing calls. There's also this, albeit primitive, invention called pen-and-paper. It wouldn't help the issue here, but at least you could write "Budesonide 9mg or WTF" and I'd understand you want Uceris.
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