Safety and Drugs: How Do We Record Medication Consumption and Prescription in Electronic Medical Records? A Look on Aspirin.

Background: documentation of aspirin consumption is usually not complete and clear, probably because it's a cheap drug that can be easily acquired.

Objective: To evaluate the quality of the record of aspirin consumption documented in the electronic medical records (EMRs) of a Private University Hospital of Argentina.

Design: Qualitative and quantitative descriptive exploratory study.

Results: principal findings were that 86 % of the notes mentioned aspirin as a chronic prescription. 12% mentioned its temporary suspension. Numerous EMRs mentioned the use of an "antiplatelet" drug without specifying which, and didn't specify abbreviations, consumed dose or when to start or stop aspirin.

Conclusions: overall quality of aspirin related information registration in EMRs was poor. This is concerning since it's a frequently prescribed drug, not exempt from adverse events.