BOOK COMMENTS

 

Information Technology: An Integrated Approach

 

Stephen Goundrey-Smith MSc Cert Clin Pharm MRPharmS
Springer Science, 2013, London ISBN: 978-1-4471-2779-6

 

 

 

Information Technology in Pharmacy: an Integrated Approach provides a concise and practical general introduction to pharmacy IT, discusses issues surrounding the adoption of technology and how technologies may be utilized by the pharmacy profession to exercise new professional roles and achieve new professional aspirations. This book draws on the author's experience in hospital pharmacy and the healthcare IT industry and will be of interest to practicing pharmacists at all levels, pharmacy informatics specialists and hospital/health service managers.

The book describes the benefits and risks associated with the use of IT to support the provision of a pharmacy service - both in hospitals and in the community - and the issues that pharmacy managers implementing these technologies face. The book will also explores the way in which current and emerging technologies might support new ways of working in pharmacy, to make the most of the pharmacist's skill set. The emphasis of the book on the holistic use of technologies to streamline and influence the prescribing and medicines use process, and so the book will look at IT systems that are not, or not solely, used by pharmacists, such as hospital electronic prescribing systems and the systems used in doctors' surgeries/offices (GP systems).

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the development of pharmacy as a profession, the information needs of pharmacists and the use of IT to manage medicines information. The opening chapter also discusses the context in which pharmacy IT has developed, and foundational concepts such as clinical coding, risk management etc. Chapter 2 examines the development of electronic health records, discusses the design, security and legal issues associated with them, and how the electronic health record can enable and optimise high quality pharmaceutical care. Chapter 3 discusses the benefits of hospital electronic prescribing (EP), the experiences of implementation and how it affects pharmacists. Chapter 4 describes the various forms of automated dispensing that have been developed, including dispensary robots, ward cabinets, remote dispensing kiosks, and other forms of dispensing device. Chapter 5 reviews the use of IT systems in the wider primary care arena, including general medical practitioner's systems, electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP) in community practice, and prescribing management systems and will describe the functions of these systems from a pharmacy perspective. Chapter 6 examines the role of patient medication records in community pharmacy, and departmental pharmacy systems in hospital pharmacy, looking at their functions and their contribution to pharmacy management. Chapter 7 reviews the development of pharmacy logistics and how IT has impacted on this, particularly in the area of product and batch identification. Finally, Chapter 8 assesses potential future developments in IT to support pharmacy practice, together with the standards in education and professional development that will be required to capitalise on these.

The book will discuss the use of IT in pharmacy practice from an international perspective, looking at literature describing innovation and practice from different countries - most notably, the United States, UK, Europe and Australia. However, the scope of the book does not extend to:

• The editorial and distribution processes for distributing reference sources on pharmacy and clinical medicine (eg formularies and monographs)

• The medicines information systems that are used purely to support the activities of the pharmaceutical industry

• Database systems used for the capture and storage of clinical trial data.

The book will be a useful resource for all involved with pharmacy IT at an implementation level, or as service managers or policy makers.

 

About the Author

Stephen Goundrey-Smith qualified as a pharmacist in Britain in 1989, and subsequently gained an MSc in Information Science at City University, London. He has worked as a hospital pharmacist, in medical affairs in the pharmaceutical industry and as an electronic prescribing and pharmacy analyst in the healthcare IT industry. He was formerly Healthcare IT Pharmacist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the professional body for pharmacists in Britain, leading on pharmacy IT policy and professional engagement with IT initiatives. He is now a consultant in pharmacy IT and healthcare informatics, pharmaceutical marketing and healthcare market access.

He has published widely on pharmacy informatics and other pharmacy issues, and is also the author of Principles of Electronic Prescribing 2nd Edition (2012) (Springer Science). He is an advisor to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and is involved with a number of UK national pharmacy IT initiatives. He was the international keynote speaker at the 1st Australian Electronic Medication Management Conference in Melbourne, Australia in June 2012.

 

Information Technology in Pharmacy: An Integrated Approach

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