A joint statement on e-prescribing released by the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Pharmacists Association states that e-prescribing should be the means by which prescriptions are generated for all Ca­nadians by 2015. E-prescribing is defin­ed as the secure electronic creation and transmission of a prescription between an authorized prescriber and a patient’s pharmacy of choice, using clinical electronic medical record and pharmacy management software.

The joint position of the CMA and the CPA is that e-prescribing will improve patient care and safety. According to the two associations, e-prescribing will support enhanced clinical decision making, prescribing, and medication management, and integrate information available at the point of care into the clinical workflow.

The plan for the implementation of e-prescribing should take into consideration patient confidentiality and security, patient choice, access to best practice information, streamlining of work processes, and other key factors surrounding data security and forgery prevention.

The statement can be viewed at www.pharmacists.ca/cpha-ca/assets/File/ePrescribingStatementENG2013.pdf [8].