Paper prescriptions meet their match

From Saint John (NB) Telegraph Journal:
Whether it's justified or not, doctors are notorious for having illegible handwriting. But if a New Brunswick start-up can prove its service is worthwhile, patients may no longer wonder how pharmacists can read prescriptions.

Saint John-based MedRunner is working on a prototype for a virtual prescription service that would not only make picking up medicine quicker, easier and more efficient but also integrate with, and contribute to, a patient's medical record.

"In paper prescriptions there's so much room for error, and adverse reactions," says MedRunner co-founder Todd Murphy, an MBA student at the University of New Brunswick

If a prescription were misread it could result in death, he says, but in a virtual system that mistake is far less likely.

The company has the Department of Health's approval to work in co-operation with the pharmaceutical association to test the service to prove the concept works.

The service, which is still under development, would be part of New Brunswick's province-wide e-health records system, which would allow doctors to easily access a patient's medical and list of past and current prescriptions when deciding on a treatment. ...more