The Netcare pharmaceutical information network (PIN) data is an invaluable tool for healthcare professionals when assessing patients. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians review the data to gather information for patient assessment and the medication history can be used to inform pharmacist clinical decisions. PIN data goes beyond the pharmacy as physicians and other healthcare providers rely on accurate Netcare data when assessing and making clinical decisions for their patients, and the Tracked Prescription Program relies on accurate PIN data to monitor the prescribing and use of tracked drugs. Additionally, patients can now see their own medication history in the Alberta Health MyHealth Records system and they may provide this information to their healthcare providers.
For all these reasons, data accuracy is critically important. Ensuring data integrity is a shared responsibility and all users have an obligation to submit accurate data. Inaccurate or missing information has the potential to result in patient harm.
If your pharmacy submits PIN data in real time, you are immediately made aware when data is rejected by Netcare. When data is submitted in batches, Netcare provides your pharmacy with a response file that details any rejections due to data issues.
Netcare reports that, on average, about seven per cent of records submitted are rejected due to errors. While this is an overall average, some individual pharmacy error rates can be much higher.
Every pharmacy should have a policy and procedure about regularly reviewing the Netcare response file and minimizing data entry errors. The pharmacy licensee needs to develop this policy, ensure all team members who access Netcare understand it, and routinely check the data response files to ensure team members are complying and the files are reviewed regularly. If no policy exists or you are not familiar with how to view the response files, the pharmacy licensee should work with their software vendor and/or Netcare to develop a process to review these files.
Pharmacies that are missing large amounts of data or haven’t submitted to Netcare for some time may receive a call from the Netcare Helpdesk. It is the licensee’s responsibility to ensure accurate data is being submitted. If you notice that dispensing information for your patients is not appearing in Netcare, take the required steps to determine why this is occurring and correct the issue immediately.
