Misconceptions
EMGuidance Scripts are legally valid electronic prescriptions, using an AES and electronic agent to comply with Regulation 33. This means the AES-signed PDF is the original script, debunking misconceptions that digital or Schedule 6 scripts cannot be sent electronically or must originate directly from the doctor's practice.
Electronic script misconceptions
EMGuidance Scripts
EMGuidance Scripts are prepared using an electronic agent and are signed by prescribers
using their advanced electronic signature which means they meet the legislative
requirements of electronic prescribing. Furthermore, the immutable tracking history
displayed as an audit log on the email body and pharmacy portal supports the pharmacist’s
decision making on script validity.
Misconception - A digital script is not the original prescription
EMGuidance Scripts are prepared using an “electronic agent” and signed using an
“advanced electronic signature” (AES) as defined by the Electronic Communications and
Transactions Act, 2002 and therefore meet the legislative requirements of electronic
prescribing as stipulated in Regulation 33 of the Medicines and Related Substances Act 101
of 1965. The AES signed PDF is deemed as the original script. An electronic script
prepared using an electronic agent and signed using AES cannot be rejected on the basis
that it is not the original script.
Misconception - Schedule 6 scripts cannot be sent electronically
If the schedule 6 script is prepared using an electronic agent and signed using an advanced
electronic signature, as an EMGuidance Script is, then it meets the legislative requirements
of electronic prescribing.
Misconception - Scripts must come from the doctor’s practice
EMGuidance Scripts are prepared using an electronic agent and signed using an advanced
electronic signature therefore do not need to be sent directly from the doctor’s practice.
This misconception stems from communication shared by the Pharmaceutical Society of
South Africa (PSSA) in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The communication
stipulated that prescriptions that had been signed and scanned could be accepted for
schedule 5 and 6 medicines if they had been emailed or faxed directly from the prescriber’s
rooms. This aimed to facilitate access to medicine during the pandemic when fully legally
compliant prescription platforms (electronic agents using AES) were not widely available.
For the pdf please click here.
For blog article on the myths surrounding digital scripts, please click here.
for the free CPD course-What you need to know about Digital Scripting from a legal perspective.