Elderly support PCEHR
January 22, 2014
A PHARMACY department led
study looking at the views of
80 elderly people regarding the
Personally Controlled Electronic
Health Records (PCEHR) found that
respondents thought the PCEHR
was a good idea but had mixed
opinions about sharing them with
healthcare professionals other than
doctors.
‘A pilot study on the views of
elderly regional Australians of
personally controlled electronic
health records’, published in the
International Journal of Medical
Informatics was led by Paresh Kerai
of La Trobe University School of
Pharmacy and Applied Science.
The majority (85%) of respondents
(most aged 60-79 years) thought
the PCEHR was a good idea.
At 95%, almost all respondents
were willing to provide their GP
with access to their PCEHR, but
only 44% felt that pharmacists
should have full access.
The study highlighted the elderly
as key to achieving successful
rollout, and said some factors that
needed to be addressed were
internet access, and limited or
no access of PCEHR for certain
health professionals, which could
compromise healthcare provided.
“For example, pharmacists may
have valuable information such
as alternative or over-the-counter
medication usage that may be
essential to a GP trying to make a
diagnosis and give advice.
“If the pharmacist does not
have permission to share that
information, the GP could
unknowingly potentially prescribe
something that could cause harm.”
For more details CLICK HERE.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 22 Jan 14To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 22 Jan 14
