EN ISO 17523 (electronic prescription)

EN ISO 17523 – Health informatics — Requirements for electronic prescriptions

This International Standard (IS) both from ISO and CEN describes the data elements that can be considered as essential for electronic prescriptions of medicinal products.

In modern health care, electronic communication becomes more and more important, including electronic communication of prescriptions for medicines.
Also, since international travelling has become integrated into daily life, it is important that electronic communications regarding prescriptions can somehow be synchronized between prescribers and dispensers in different jurisdictions.
For that reason, it is important to have a standard that describes the elements which an electronic prescription preferably contains, like:

  • Patient identification
  • The medicine prescribed
  • The dosage of the prescribed drug
  • And some other characteristics

The scope of this IS is just the data elements of an electronic prescription; areas like validation of the prescription or the reimbursement amongst others are out of scope.

One finds more information about ISO 17523 here.