Health care professionals to access seniors' medication history by wellnet

Starting this March staff in the emergency departments of the Misericordia and the University of Alberta Hospital will be able to consult seniors' medication history by computer database.

The Alberta wellnet pilot project will allow nurses, physicians and other health professionals to gain secure access to drug prescription information already collected by pharmacists through the Pharmaceutical Information Network and provided electronically to Alberta Blue Cross Insurance.

The project is limited to patients who are 65 years of age and older who have had drug prescriptions paid for by Alberta Blue Cross.

Alberta wellnet expects the computer drug profile database should provide ER staff with quicker access to the drug history of Alberta seniors and the phone numbers of physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals who have recently provided medication to Alberta seniors. The drug profile database will also offer ingredient information of recently dispensed drugs to individual patients.

Wellnet hopes that staff will be able to make prompt and accurate decisions about drug treatment when the patient is unconscious, unresponsive or unable to recall current medications.

For more information, contact alberta wellnet at (780) 427-5073 or visit the website at www.albertawellnet.org.

Copyright Alberta Association of Registered Nurses Mar/Apr 1999
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