An overview of e-prescribing in secondary care.

Healthcare organisations are now having to address the plan outlined in the NHS Outcomes Framework while at the same time reducing spending. One area that can help them achieve this is electronic-prescribing (e-prescribing). This article describes the existing prescribing challenges hospitals face and discusses how e-prescribing can address these. It examines the practicalities of introducing e-prescribing to a busy hospital setting and steps that can be taken to make the process as straightforward as possible.