Among the major limitations identified among physicians was the time required to use the monitoring program. “Even if it takes only three minutes per patient, in a busy emergency department or office practice, having to do this multiple times daily amounts to a substantial time investment,” said Lewis Nelson, MD, from New York University. Other time-consuming aspects identified by physicians included navigating to the correct web portal for the program and recalling and resetting the password. Physicians found that when they gained access to the database, timely information for each patient was often not available.
The study authors noted that despite the identified limitations and the need for increasing “user friendliness” of the programs, prescription drug monitoring programs may help to diminish the number of patients who abuse prescription drugs nationwide.
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