In hospitals and community pharmacies this is done in many ways. For one, prescriptions and hospital orders are supposed to be screened for appropriateness. For example, we look for drug interactions, allergies, overdoses, incorrect drug prescribed, etc. The computer has become an indispensable tool. In drug stores it is common to submit prescriptions for payment adjudication by a third party and the pharmacist gets a report back as to whether or not the prescription is safe, a duplicate of something pt is already on, etc.
Pharmacies have similar software of their own.
Pharmacists also can help patients prevent errors through counseling or discussions that they hold with the patient when medications are provided. How do you see information technology supporting or interfering with the current practices of HMO's making decisions based on costs versus a patients medical needs. It is critical as it has been computer prescribing alone has been shown to reduce medication errors by over half in hospitals. It's going to become more affordable and it is already essential to patient safety. However, as today's USA Today article mentions, we have been slow in adopting.