Health and Biomedical Informatics Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2024 Sep 30;24(1):279. doi: 10.1186/s12911-024-02687-w.
Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) is an essential technology in the modern health system. This technology has made many changes in the prescription process, which have advantages and disadvantages and have created opportunities for transforming the health system. This study aimed to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the e-prescribing system implemented in Iran from the physician's viewpoint.
This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted in 2022. The participants were 15 Iranian specialist physicians working at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, selected purposively and deliberately. Data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews using an interview guide comprising 16 questions. Interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached. The audio data was transcribed into text and analyzed using the thematic analysis. To ensure the validity and reliability of the findings, the criteria introduced by Lincoln and Guba were employed.
The results of this study showed that the e-prescribing system executed in Iran has diverse and multidimensional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In the strengths section, the analysis of the interviews led to the extraction of semantic units in the categories of prescription process, prescriber, patient, technical, economic, communication, and insurance. Also, the weaknesses in the three categories of the prescriber, patient, and technical were debatable. The opportunities extracted from the narratives of the interviewees were placed in four categories including technical, national macro policies, Ministry of Health macro-policies, and socio-cultural issues. Finally, the discussed threats are classified into two technical and macro policies of the Ministry of Health categories. On the other hand, technical issues played an effective role in all aspects of the SWOT model.
The e-prescribing system in Iran has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. An overarching factor across all aspects of the SWOT model was technical infrastructure. A robust technical infrastructure is considered a strength and an opportunity for the growth of the electronic prescribing system in Iran. Conversely, any shortcomings in these systems are viewed as weaknesses and pose a threat to the system's sustainability.
电子处方（e-prescribing）是现代医疗系统中的一项重要技术。这项技术改变了处方流程，带来了优势和劣势，也为医疗系统的转型创造了机会。本研究旨在从医生的角度调查伊朗实施的电子处方系统的优势、劣势、机会和威胁。
这是一项 2022 年进行的现象学定性研究。参与者是 15 名在乌尔米亚医科大学工作的伊朗专科医生，采用目的性和故意性选择方法。使用包含 16 个问题的访谈指南，通过深入的半结构化访谈收集数据。访谈一直进行到数据饱和为止。将音频数据转录成文本，并使用主题分析进行分析。为了确保研究结果的有效性和可靠性，采用了林肯和古巴提出的标准。
本研究结果表明，伊朗实施的电子处方系统具有多样化和多维度的优势、劣势、机会和威胁。在优势部分，通过对访谈的分析，得出了处方流程、开方者、患者、技术、经济、沟通和保险等类别的语义单元。此外，开方者、患者和技术三个类别的劣势存在争议。从受访者的叙述中提取的机会被归入技术、国家宏观政策、卫生部宏观政策和社会文化问题等四个类别。最后，讨论的威胁分为技术和卫生部宏观政策两个类别。另一方面，技术问题在 SWOT 模型的所有方面都发挥了作用。
伊朗的电子处方系统具有优势、劣势、机会和威胁。整个 SWOT 模型的一个普遍因素是技术基础设施。强大的技术基础设施被认为是伊朗电子处方系统发展的优势和机会。相反，这些系统的任何缺陷都被视为劣势，并对系统的可持续性构成威胁。
