Objective: To report medication adherence among ambulatory patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) using Morisky 8-item medication adherence MMAS-8 scale and assess current standard of knowledge regarding their disease using a especially developed Patient 10-item Knowledge Assessment PKA-X scale. Methods: A quantitative cross sectional study was conducted for 3 months in Karachi, Pakistan using Morisky 8-item medication adherence scale ® documenting the medication adherence of ambulatory patients with DM and to find out their knowledge regarding the disease using a newly developed Patient 10-item knowledge assessment PKA-X scale. Results: The mean MMAS-8 score of the total sample was 4.69 (1.9 SD) which was interpreted as 'Low medication adherence' (P value<0.01). Majority of patients (N=204, 79.4%) had low adherence (P value<0.01). The mean score reported by PKA-X scale was 9.0 (SD 1.4) which was interpreted as 'Excellent knowledge'. Bulk of patients (N=202, 78.6%) had excellent knowledge (P value<0.01). No significant association existed between patient knowledge and their medication adherence (P value>0.05). Conclusion: The medication adherence of the patients is very low and adequate measures are the need of the hour to address this issue though the standard of knowledge has greatly improved. However, having good knowledge about the disease does not guarantee adherence to medication regimen.

The advancement of computerized physician order entry system has delivered a fast social move in the realm of medication, introducing both new difficulties just as open doors for improving medicinal services. As clinicians work to adjust to the progressions forced by the CPOE, identification of best practices are required for CPOE’s effective implementation. Using the references of published articles on CPOE’s effective implementation and obstacles in its adherence in hospitals, this article aims to identify best practices and useful tools in effective implementation of CPOE. This review is based on a search of Medline, the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, and citation lists of relevant publications. Subject heading and key words used include construction and working of CPOE, CPOE related errors, impact of CPOE on medication errors and obstacles in CPOE effective implementation. Only articles in English were included.

No abstract