A unique ID system for patients and pharmacists is the key to reducing overuse and self-medication

Drug abuse and usage are major global issues that result in worse health outcomes, higher healthcare expenses, and an increase in illnesses resistant to drugs. Digitalization ensures appropriate medicine distribution monitoring and management, providing creative solutions to this problem. Implementing a digital prescription system with individual ID numbers for patients is one such approach that can greatly lower overuse and self-medication.
Digital Prescription with Unique ID Numbers
The fundamental component of this digital strategy is the allocation of a unique identification number to every patient, which is connected to their prescription medications. The system operates as follows
Doctor’s Order: Medication prescriptions written by doctors are digitally stored and associated with each patient’s individual ID. Authorized pharmacists can access a secure digital database including this prescription information.
Pharmacy Verification: Patients show their special ID when they visit a pharmacy to pick up their prescription medication. To confirm the prescription information, including the precise drugs and dosages recommended by the physician, the pharmacist consults the electronic prescription database.
Controlled Dispensation: The drug is given out by the pharmacist in accordance with the prescription written by the physician. The moment the medication is given, the transaction is entered into the computerized system, instantly updating the patient’s medication history.
Preventing Multiple Dispensions: The system will indicate that a medication has previously been distributed if the patient tries to get the same prescription from a different pharmacy. This effectively stops overuse and misuse of medication by preventing the patient from taking more than is prescribed.
Advantages of Digital Prescription Systems for Improved Monitoring:
Digital prescriptions let medical professionals keep a close eye on how their patients are taking their medications. This facilitates the early detection of overuse or self-medication behaviours and enables appropriate responses.
Digital methods lower the chance of errors resulting from illegible handwriting or inaccurate dose instructions by doing away with handwritten prescriptions.
Enhanced Patient Safety: The system guarantees that patients receive the appropriate drug and dosage in real-time, hence improving patient safety in general.
Planning and policy-making for public health can benefit from the analysis of aggregated data from digital prescriptions to learn more about drug trends.
Prescriptions no longer need to be carried by patients, and pharmacies can quickly check and dispense drugs, improving process efficiency.
Challenges and Considerations
Although the advantages are obvious, there are a few issues to take into account:
Privacy and Security: It is crucial to protect patient data privacy and security. Sophisticated encryption and access controls are required to safeguard private data.
Infrastructure: To put such a system into place, a large sum of money must be spent on digital infrastructure, and pharmacists and healthcare professionals must receive training.
Regulation and Compliance: To control the use of digital prescriptions and guarantee compliance throughout the healthcare industry, legal and regulatory frameworks must be put in place.
Conclusion
Digitalization has a lot of potential to reduce pharmaceutical usage and self-medication. We may establish a more regulated and effective pharmaceutical dispensing procedure by utilizing digital prescription systems that are associated with distinct patient identification numbers. This helps achieve the more general objective of improving public health outcomes in addition to enhancing patient safety. Although the path to complete healthcare digitization is difficult, it is an effort worth taking because of the possible rewards.
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Dr Fazal Ul Haq Wani and Er Rizwan Uz Zaman Wani