A cross-sectional study of the Belgian community pharmacist's satisfaction with the implementation of the electronic prescription

Background: Several benefits and problems of electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) are described in scientific literature, though problems remain in the implementation. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacist's perception of the ePrescription implementation within the community pharmacy software in Belgium, and the frequency and hindrance of encountered problems. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacists in Belgium to measure satisfaction with the ePrescribing implementation and factors influencing this satisfaction. Results: In total 246 pharmacists (3.3 % response rate) rated the implementation in their software with an average score of 6.46 +/- 2.16 (SD) on a scale of 10. In Belgium, French-speaking pharmacists gave a significantly higher satisfaction score compared to Dutch-speaking pharmacists (P = 0.032), whereas Dutch-speaking pharmacists perceived to process significantly more ePrescriptions compared to French-speaking pharmacists (P < 0.001). Satisfaction with the implementation of the ePrescription was significantly associated with the software package (P < 0.001), the knowledge of the ePrescribing workflow (P = 0.036), the frequency of slow responses of the software (P < 0.001) and the perception of unavailability of the system (P = 0.003). Conclusions: The Belgian pharmacist was moderately satisfied with the implementation of the ePrescription. Problems with the availability of Belgian eHealth systems and interoperability issues with national codes used between prescriber and dispenser have to be resolved in the future in order to meet the Belgian community pharmacist's needs.