Physicians' use of electronic prescribing system functionalities in outpatient clinics

Objectives: This study investigates how physicians in Iran's Social Security Organization outpatient clinics utilize EPS functionalities to optimize the system and enhance patient care. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran in 2020, involving a population of 118 physicians working in outpatient clinics of the Social Security Organization. A researcher-developed questionnaire was employed to assess five different functionalities of the EPS. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were established through expert evaluation and Cronbach's alpha calculations. Participants' responses were scored on a scale from 0 to 4 (never=0, rarely=1, sometimes=2, often=3, always=4). Results: Physicians most frequently utilized the EPS functionalities for: "Recording and displaying patient medication history" (86.5%), "Selecting drugs from the medication list" (86.3%), "Providing pre-defined doses for selection by the physician" (66.6%), and "Alerts for repetitive treatments" (65.3%). Additionally, they reported using "Viewing and verifying prescribing information before sending electronically" (83.9%) and "Patient laboratory results" (82.2%). While features related to patient identification and data access were widely used, functionalities pertaining to alerts and decision support were utilized less frequently. Conclusion: Physicians demonstrated a strong reliance on the core functionalities of EPS, particularly for managing medication histories, drug selection, and reviewing prescriptions prior to transmission. This reliance underscores the importance of these functionalities in streamlining workflows, reducing errors, and improving patient care. Further development of EPS can enhance their potential benefits.