Facsimile machines for medication order transmission.

The use of facsimile machines for medication order transmission has improved turnaround time and provided benefits for the Department of Pharmacy Services and the hospital. As a result of this program pharmacists have more time and more opportunities to improve drug therapy because they no longer have to travel to patient care units or handle patient charts for the purpose of order entry. Pharmacists will have even more time when technicians have been fully trained to carry out medication order entry. Important also is the ability for nurses to FAX rather than hand carry urgently needed orders to the pharmacy satellites. The use of FAX machines in this manner lowers the cost of patient care and makes this technology available for other purposes as well. It is becoming increasingly clear that pharmacists, as well as others, can utilize modern technology such as this to maintain and improve services in the presence of a cost-containment environment.