E-Prescribing in Ireland: What Pharmacists Need to Know

Pharmacists in Ireland need to be aware of the ongoing development and implementation of ePrescribing, which aims to digitize the entire process of prescribing and dispensing medications to improve patient safety, efficiency, and access to medicines. What is ePrescribing in Ireland? ePrescribing involves the electronic generation of a prescription by a prescriber, secure transmission of this prescription to a pharmacy, and electronic dispensing by the pharmacist, all integrated into the patient's health record. Currently, prescriptions in Ireland are mostly paper-based, but a transition is underway to allow electronic prescriptions to replace paper ones, facilitated by a national digital platform. The vision is to establish a single source of truth for prescribing and dispensing information for every patient, improving medication safety and reducing errors such as mistaken identity, incorrect dosage, or adverse dru...