e-Prescription systems are key components and drivers of digital health. They can enhance the safety of the patients, and are gaining popularity in health care systems around the world. Yet, there is little knowledge on comparative international analysis of e-Prescription systems' architecture and digital security. We report, in this study, original findings from a comparative analysis of the e-Prescription systems in eight different countries, namely, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Japan, Sweden, and Denmark. We surveyed the databases related to pharmacies, eHealth, e-Prescriptions, and related digital health websites for each country, and their system architectures. We also compared the digital security and privacy protocols in place within and across these digital systems. We evaluated the systems' authentication protocols used by pharmacies to verify patients' identities during the medication dispensing process. Furthermore, we examined the supporting systems/services used to manage patients' medication histories and enhance patients' medication safety. Taken together, we report, in this study, original comparative findings on the limitations and challenges of the surveyed systems as well as in adopting e-Prescription systems. While the present study was conducted before the onset of COVID-19, e-Prescription systems have become highly relevant during the current pandemic and hence, a deeper understanding of the country systems' architecture and digital security that can help design effective strategies against the pandemic. e-Prescription systems can help reduce physical contact and the risk of exposure to the virus, as well as the wait times in pharmacies, thus enhancing patient safety and improving planetary health.

中文翻译：

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内科医生和药剂师办公室的数字健康：八个国家电子处方系统的体系结构和数字安全性的比较研究

电子处方系统是数字健康的关键组成部分和驱动力。它们可以提高患者的安全性，并且在全世界的医疗保健系统中越来越受欢迎。然而，对电子处方系统的体系结构和数字安全性的国际比较分析知之甚少。在本研究中，我们报告了来自八个国家（即加拿大，美国，英国，澳大利亚，西班牙，日本，瑞典和丹麦）的电子处方系统的比较分析的原始发现。我们调查了与每个国家/地区的药房，eHealth，电子处方和相关数字健康网站相关的数据库及其系统架构。我们还比较了这些数字系统内部和整个数字系统中的数字安全和隐私协议。我们评估了系统的 药房用于在配药过程中验证患者身份的身份验证协议。此外，我们检查了用于管理患者用药史并增强患者用药安全性的支持系统/服务。总之，我们在本研究中报告了有关被调查系统以及采用电子处方系统的局限性和挑战的原始比较结果。尽管本研究是在COVID-19发作之前进行的，但电子处方系统在当前的大流行中已变得高度相关，因此，对国家系统的体系结构和数字安全性有更深入的了解，可以帮助设计有效的应对大流行的策略。电子处方系统可以帮助减少身体接触并减少接触病毒的风险，