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Guest Post: BC Cancer – Prince George piloting digital signature on e-faxed prescriptions
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Shared on behalf of BC Cancer – Prince George and the Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST) project |
On Monday, June 26, 2023, BC Cancer – Prince George went live with CST Cerner, moving from older electronic systems and paper-based charts to electronic patient records. Prince George is the second of six BC Cancer centres to implement the new system, used by 38,000 staff and providers across Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and Providence Health Care (PHC) facilities. At the same time, this centre is piloting new functionality for eFaxing of prescriptions, for medications to be taken by the patient at home, which impacts pharmacies that receive these prescriptions.
Five important things to know
- As of June 26, 2023, community phamacists who receive eFaxed prescriptions from BC Cancer - Prince George will see unique digital signatures in place of ‘wet’, hand written signatures.
- This change only applies for people who’ve had a patient visit, or other relevant interaction with BC Cancer - Prince George, entered into the new CST Cerner system.
- This is what the new eFax looks like. Please familiarize yourself and update your colleagues. It’s important that these legitimate prescriptions are processed without delay for patients.
Graphic below: An eFaxed prescription with a unique digital signature displayed next to a printed prescription for comparison. Each unique digital signature is automatically generated via CST Cerner. (click here to open in a new window).
Image below: PDF image of the two forms below (click here to open in a new window).
- This change excludes prescriptions for controlled substances and/or those within the Controlled Prescription Program (CPP), which remain limited to printed prescriptions only.
- The launch of this functionality at BC Cancer – Prince George is acting as a pilot project, prior to considering a broader rollout to more sites across VCH, PHSA and PHC.
Why this new functionality is being rolled out
CST Cerner, and related practice changes, are designed to improve the safety, quality and consistency of patient care. This new functionality helps providers, clinicians, and clerical staff save time by automating the prescription faxing process, removing the need to manually send faxes or spend time obtaining ‘wet’ (hand written) signatures. Patients do not need to wait for printed prescriptions and are not required to drop off a printed prescription.
How to find out more
Questions or comments regarding the eFaxed prescription pilot at BC Cancer – Prince George? Email [email protected]. To find out more about the CST project overall, visit CSTproject.ca.