Clinical pharmacists set to lead health information technology on healthcare team

Haematology/oncology clinical pharmacists appear ready to serve as leaders of health information technology on the interdisciplinary healthcare team, suggests a recent study.

This single-centre, web-based survey sought to describe the role of haematology/oncology clinical pharmacists in health information technology as well as their perceptions of the impact of technology expansion on patient care.

Thirty pharmacists participated in the study by email over the 2-week period of 24 September 2018 to 8 October 2018. The anonymous survey included 19 questions, with varying formats including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and rank order.

Quantification of time spent in the electronic health record and perceptions on how technology expansion has influenced the safety, quality, and efficiency of patient care were the primary outcomes.

Of the respondents, 27 (90 percent) completed the survey in its entirety. Clinical pharmacists reported spending an average of 84.1 percent of their workday in the electronic health record. Based on a 40-h work week, the respondents indicated that they spend about 32.2 hours each week performing direct patient care tasks in the electronic health record compared to 3.7 hours on indirect patient care tasks.

All pharmacists reported greater use of technology over the last 5 years. Notably, many of them thought that patient care is safe, more efficient, and of better quality with technology expansion. Most of the respondents (81.5 percent) also felt that clinical pharmacists have the best understanding of the health information technology system, followed by generalist pharmacists and informatics pharmacists.