Group Health Centre system keeps pharmacists in the loop

Group Health Centre will today launch an innovative electronic information project that allows patient information to be shared among pharmicists in the Sault and GHC physicians.

The EMRxtra initiative encourages closer cooperation among local medical professionals to help pharmacists determine why physicians are prescribing certain medications, helping reduce mistakes when dispensing medication to patients.

"I think doctors are aware that there is the potential for harm from interactions from medications, says David Crookston, a Group Health Centre family physician. "I think because that's the pharmacists livelihood, they have a deeper understanding of how medications interact."

Participation in the project requires the patient's consent.

"The project allows the patient care team at the Group Health Centre to be linked through web services to the patient's pharmacist of their choice," says Lucy Fronzi, EMRxtra project manager. "And they share part of the medical chart, so the pharmacist is able to work with the patient with their own medical history."

"I think most Canadians will be surprised that their pharmacist and their hospital professionals and their doctors are not able to seamlessly work together in terms of exchange of health information, "that now can become a reality through things like EMR Extra," says federal Health Minister Tony Clement. "So I think this is a timely process it's exactly what Canadians want to see in their Health Care system."