Electronic Prescription Application at Community Health Centers
BANDUNG, KOMPAS - The results of information technology development from the School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology, in the form of Electronic Prescriptions, have been applied at the Babakan Sari Community Health Center in Bandung City, West Java. This is the first application of Electronic Prescription technology by a community health center in Indonesia.
"This technology, in addition to speeding up the administrative process, is also designed to detect duplication and harmful drug compositions. The network system covers registration, inspection, and drug collection," said Ira Dewi Jani, a Master's student in the Electrical Engineering Program at the Bandung Institute of Technology's School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (STEI ITB), on Tuesday (May 10) in Bandung.
Since 2008, Ira, also a general practitioner, has been implementing electronic prescription technology. This technology was the subject of a thesis by her previous student, Irma Melyani Puspitasari.
Irma, a pharmacologist from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, also pursued a master's degree at STEI ITB. Their collaboration resulted in the Electronic Prescription computer program.
The system software specifications use 4.85 megabytes (MB) of memory, consisting of 4.40 MB for the program and 464 kilobytes (KB) for the initial database. The program base uses the freeware XAMPP for Windows Version 1.5.1 (29 MB).
Short and fast
"The patient treatment process is streamlined and faster. The data can be immediately used to generate reports," said Nurhasijati Ningsih, Head of the Babakan Sari Community Health Center.
Electronic prescriptions have been implemented at Babakan Sari Community Health Center since March 20, 2010. The center is a pioneer in paperless, transparent, and accountable administration. "Every patient's financial transaction is recorded and cannot be edited, requiring careful data entry," said Ningsih.
Electronic Prescriptions allow the patient administration process, from registration to medication dispensing, to be conducted via a computer-to-computer connection. Patients only need to bring their medical card, which contains a medical record identification number stored on a computer server.
Health center staff don't need to search for patient files in filing cabinets. Every doctor examining a patient can directly enter their complaint, diagnosis, and prescription into the Electronic Prescription software. After the examination, the patient simply provides their patient number to the pharmacy to receive their medication without having to bring a paper prescription.
Ningsih said the mildest impact of adverse drug interactions is a decreased effectiveness of one of the drugs or other health problems. Certain drug interactions can be fatal, such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which can cause skin peeling and internal organ infections.
Since its launch a year ago, community health center staff have seen the benefits of e-Prescriptions. Staff no longer have to go back and forth searching for medical records, and doctors no longer have to print out examination reports.
This electronic prescription system requires that the registration room and the examination room have connected computers. Ira explained that this innovation has not been widely implemented by other community health centers.
"This community health center has been visited by foreign guests several times. However, the Indonesian government has not made any efforts to replicate this program in other community health centers," said Ira. (ELD/NAW)
Source: http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2011/05/11/05303942/aplikasi-resep-elektronik-di-puskesmas