SafeScript: helping doctors provide safer patient care

In order to take action to reduce the growing harms, including deaths, from high-risk prescription medicines, the Victorian Government has implemented SafeScript, an innovative real-time prescription monitoring system.

MedicalDirector continues its market leadership in eHealth initiatives through integration with SafeScript. All Victoria-based Helix and Clinical users can now access SafeScript directly at the point of prescribing. For the first time, doctors will be able to view the full prescribe and dispense history of restricted drugs for their patients.

SafeScript is Australia’s first truly real time prescription monitoring system, built on the national eRx Script Exchange which MedicalDirector has been integrated with since 2009.

The prescription medicine overdose crisis in Australia

Three Australians die every day from prescription medicine overdose, a recent report from the Penington Institute found. There also continues to be a marked increase in the rate of overdose deaths in regional Australia. In fact, in 2016, the per capita rate for regional Australia had increased to 8.1 per 100,000 compared to a rate of 6.6 in metropolitan areas.

The statistics in Victoria are just as alarming. In 2017, there were 414 Victorian drug overdose deaths involving pharmaceutical medicines, which is higher than the number of overdose deaths involving illicit drugs (271), and higher than the road toll (258).

Putting this into perspective, in Victoria every day, at least one person dies from a prescription medicine overdose. Every hour, at least one ambulance call out is made relating to prescription medicine misadventure. Every five seconds, a prescription for a high-risk medicine is prescribed in Victoria.

What is SafeScript?

In order to take action to reduce the growing harms, including deaths, from high-risk prescription medicines the Victorian Government has already begun the deployment of SafeScript, Victoria’s real-time prescription monitoring system.

SafeScript is computer software that helps you provide safer care to patients taking high-risk prescription medicines including Schedule 8 medicines: benzodiazepines, zolpidem, zopiclone, quetiapine and codeine. It provides you with comprehensive, real-time information on the prescription history of a patient including clinical alerts to help you identify earlier when a patient may be at risk of harm and require further support.

SafeScript integration now available in MedicalDirector

In order to make it easy for doctors to use SafeScript, SafeScript is now fully integrated with MedicalDirector’ Helix cloud-based clinical and practice management software. It will also be fully integrated in the upcoming version of Clinical 3.18 due for release at the end of 2018.

Full integration will save you time when accessing a patient record in SafeScript. When you are prescribing a monitored medicine, you will receive a pop-up notification within seconds after you have selected the medicine, colour-coded in either green, amber or red, to quickly inform you whether there is information or a clinical alert in SafeScript which requires your review. A click on the notification will take you directly to the patient’s record.

Using SafeScript is easy – register now and start today

As part of the roll out of SafeScript, a comprehensive training package is available to doctors which covers how to use the system as well as focusing on clinical and counselling skills. The training modules are available online here.

SafeScript launched in October 2018 and is already proving its worth in clinical practice, helping health professionals every day provide safer care to their patients. It’s time to join the 3,000+ health professionals already registered to use SafeScript and who are no longer prescribing in the dark.

To start using SafeScript within MedicalDirector Clinical

Ensure you have upgraded to Clinical Version 3.18.
Register for SafeScript now at safescript.vic.gov.au.
Ensure that your practice is registered for MDExchange.
ePrescribing is enabled for each practitioner who wishes to participate in SafeScript.
From the Clinical front screen, select User > Setup Users and open [edit] each practitioner.
Tick the Participate in SafeScript check box.