A national trial to test electronic prescribing, expected to start at Dunedin Hospital in July, could be held up if approval is not given for electronic "signatures".
An earlier approval for electronic signatures has been deemed invalid and senior board management are seeking an early resolution of the matter to ensure the project is not delayed.
Planning for the introduction of the $642,244, six-month pilot, funded by the Ministry of Health's safe medication management programme, has begun, with work to date including sessions with staff and the development of relevant documentation.
Internal medicine staff on the hospital's eighth floor have been selected to use electronic prescribing with their patients.
In his latest report on the project, board regional information officer Grant Taylor said some issues had been identified in meetings with staff which did not yet have resolutions.
One had highlighted the need for emergency department nurses to be trained to use the electronic system to administer medications for patients waiting to be admitted to internal medicine beds.
This meant an extra 70 staff would need to be trained.
It is hoped the pilot will improve the quality of patient care and also save the costs incurred when medication errors occur.
Last year, the board was told medication errors could cost between $10,000 and $250,000 a patient, not including the personal cost of someone disabled or killed by a medication error.
Nationally, it has been estimated by the Ministry of Health that hospital prescribing errors may cause 150 deaths a year and 4000 injuries nationally.
Hospital staff have been working on the introduction of electronic prescribing since 2003.
