MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katharine Phillips, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry DeWitt Wallace Senior Scholar Residency Research Director Department of Psychiatry Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University Attending Psychiatrist, New York-Presbyterian Hospital Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Alpert Medical School of Brown University Weill Cornell Psychiatry Specialty Center Weill Cornell Medicine I NewYork-Presbyterian MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

• Electronic prescribing of medication by clinicians is widespread; it is required in many institutions and in some states. Electronic prescribing systems commonly use computerized decision support algorithms that give prescribers automated warnings or alerts at the time of prescribing if the system identifies a potential prescribing error.
• Some prior studies suggest that electronic prescribing warnings/alerts may reduce prescribing errors and thus can be clinically useful. However, other prior studies caution that these alerts may have substantial limitations.
• Despite the importance of this topic, relatively few studies have examined the accuracy of automated prescribing warnings in electronic prescribing systems; to our knowledge, no prior study has focused primarily on prescribing of medications for psychiatric conditions.
• This report presents results from a survey of members of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP), a specialty society that advances the science and practice of clinical psychopharmacology, regarding automated warnings generated by electronic prescribing systems.

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