Can't read your doctor's handwriting? Here's how you can digitize your prescription.

Does it hurt your eyes when you try to decipher your doctor's handwriting? Do you feel dizzy because you can't understand? We have just the right solution for you!

---

Nowadays, people frequently purchase their medications online because we live in a digital world where everything is at our fingertips. However, when a doctor writes a prescription by hand, it can be very challenging to understand what they are writing because a normal person would have a hard time reading it. The medical profession has long been criticized for its archaic processes and paper-based nature. It is estimated that nearly 90% of prescriptions are written by hand.

Can you understand this prescription? No?

Well, what about this one? Still can't read?

This must be way easier for you to understand now.

The traditional way of writing prescriptions has some inherent flaws, such as illegibility and difficulty remembering both prescription quantity and quantities of individual pills. The insurance industry is also looking to digitize prescriptions to improve efficiency, reduce costs and ensure consistency across pharmacies.

In Britain, medical errors were estimated to cause deaths of up to 30 000 people per year and in the USA up to 100 000 per year. How many such errors happen in India, where English is not the primary language of doctors, is anybody’s guess. Handwriting was unreadable or difficult to read in 17.6% in a tertiary level hospital located in a rural area of Maharashtra state.

---

Digital prescriptions are easy to read and understand, eliminating the need for patients to ask someone else to read them. Digital prescriptions are also more secure than handwritten ones. While it's a long way from being a reality, digital prescriptions could become standard practice in the future. As compared to handwritten prescriptions, computerized prescriptions appear to be associated with relatively lower rates of error.

We aim to create an application that not only scans and tells us the entire digital format of the handwritten prescription but also stores it in the database so the user can retrieve it from the app itself. This will make the process simpler for the users and make great use of the resources and apps that are available on the internet to purchase medicines. This will make online medicine buying process quite simple and also in scenarios where an individual wants to buy medicine from any other medicine store or wants to consult a new doctor, they can easily refer to the digital prescription on the application. We personalize the electronic medical record by converting the handwritten prescription and delivering a digital version of the document with all data entered, including medications and other information.

How will we do that?

In the suggested approach, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) will be used to convert the written text into a digitally readable format by comparing it to a database of medications, and the prescription will then be saved. Additionally, in order to prevent any medical information from being overlooked, we are attempting to keep all of their prescriptions in one location.

A doctor has direct access to the system's medical history information. Direct prescription access from the system is available to pharmacists. The patients can also view their lab results and medical reports. Therefore, the document's content will be saved and available whenever we need it.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. The idea is to make it simple and easy to use, that works with any prescriptions that a user can take photos of at their own homes. By removing the need for human intervention from the processing flow, we have created an efficient way to convert handwritten prescriptions into digital ones. The reduction in wait time can be life saving.

In the next five years, it will be crucial for the healthcare industry to reduce its paper costs and improve the medication efficiency. With these goals in mind, a lot of companies are working on increasing their paperless programs. Digital prescription is one of the most effective way of reducing paper usage and boosting the efficiency of medication.

Thank you for reading our blog!

- Aditi Shah, Raj Desai, Harsh Singh, Ananya Singh

31st January, 2023

ARHA Blogs