Department of Health

Oncology Electronic Prescribing Systems co-investment program

Key messages

  • Medication errors remain the second most common type of medical incident reported in hospitals and, of all medication errors, omission or overdose of medicines occurs most frequently. Reducing all errors will significantly improve patient safety and the quality use of medicines.
  • Oncology Electronic Prescribing System (EPS) / Oncology Electronic Medication Management Systems reduce medication errors through improved prescription legibility, dose calculation, clinical decision support, reduction of transcription error and enhanced governance

The Department of Health (at the time known as the Department of Health and Human Services) ran an expressions of interest (EOI) process for Victorian public health services. The aim was to support hub-and-spoke oncology services for co-investment to implement oncology electronic prescribing systems across services in 2019.

Three grants were awarded to health services who demonstrate a strong rationale, commitment and capacity to successfully implement an Oncology Electronic Prescribing System (EPS), and who are able to match funding to support this investment. The recipients were Northern Health, Bendigo Health and Ballarat Health.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy - covering the administration of all pharmaceutically based anti-cancer agents - is one of the key modalities for treatment of cancer and represents one of the most significant areas for medical research and development internationally.

The prescribing and management of chemotherapy is complex, both on paper as well as in electronic medication management (EMM) systems.

Medication errors remain the second most common type of medical incident reported in hospitals and, of all medication errors, omission or overdose of medicines occurs most frequently. Reducing all errors will significantly improve patient safety and the quality use of medicines.

A hospital EMM system enables prescribing, supply and administration of medicines to be completed electronically. EMM covers the entire hospital medication cycle including prescribing by doctors, review and dispensing of medication orders by pharmacists, and administration of medications by nurses. EMM reduces medication errors through improved prescription legibility, dose calculation and clinical decision support.

It enables best practice information to be more readily available to prescribers and improves linkages between clinical information systems. It can also improve efficiency in the medication management process, such as reducing the time required to locate paper medication charts or to supply non-imprest medicines.

Reviewed 29 October 2024

Health.vic

Contact details

Statewide and Specialist Programs Department of Health

50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
cancerplanning@health.vic.gov.au
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