A new study has uncovered unsafe prescribing practices promoted by some instant prescription service apps in Australia.

Done by researchers from the University of Western Australia, the study assessed the adherence to safety standards of seven prescription request apps available around the country.

FINDINGS

The findings, published in the Pharmacy journal of the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, revealed that none of the seven apps met the 12 core competencies for safe prescribing set by the national prescribing service MedicineWise. None of them also conducts physical examinations.

It was also found that only five apps are reviewing a customer's medical and medication history while only one ensures patients' adherence to medication. 

WHY IT MATTERS

While online app-based prescribing is convenient and provides easy access to obtaining prescription medicines, this method raises potential patient safety risks. According to Dr Sandra Salter, senior author of the study, prescription apps cannot fully check drug interactions or provide personalised doses. This leaves patients running the risk of following generic instructions from prescribers who they have not even met. 

"Potentially we have thousands of people taking the wrong dose of a self-selected medicine, and we don’t even know who they are. It’s a ticking time bomb," she warned.

There is also the potential risk of either misuse, adverse side effects, or serious drug interactions. 

Additionally, health questionnaires provided by these apps are "open to be exploited by customers who might give a false answer to obtain a prescription," Dr Salter mentioned.

Given their findings, the researchers suggested regulating prescription service apps to ensure adherence to national safety standards, thus improving patient safety and outcomes. 

THE LARGER CONTEXT

New proposed changes to telehealth guidelines by the Medical Board of Australia discourage providing prescriptions to first-time telehealth users "as this is not a good practice." Ahead of its enactment, the board has started cracking down on doctors conducting unsafe online prescribing, according to a news report.

To eliminate "doctor shopping" for prescription medicines, the Australian government has been pushing for the implementation of a real-time prescription monitoring system across the country. By next week, Western Australia is set to be the latest state to introduce its own version of the system called ScriptCheckWA following trials since January. About a year ago, the ACT government went live with the web-based Canberra Script, which replaced its previous prescription drug monitoring system, DORA.