Relatively few studies have investigated the impact of computerized systems on the reduction of medication errors in oncology; most evidence comes from other specialties or is derived from data about the use of standardized paper prescription forms. Moreover, available data are often conflicting. A meta-analysis of 12 studies showed a 66% overall reduction (odds ratio = 0.34; 95% confidence interval 0.22-0.52) in medication errors when a CPOE system was employed. On the other hand, a qualitative study identified 22 types of medication error risks facilitated by the use of a CPOE system. Examples included patient or medication selection errors due to fragmented CPOE displays preventing a coherent view of patients’ details and medications, pharmacy inventory displays mistaken for dosage guidelines, ignored antibiotic renewal notices placed on paper charts rather than in the CPOE system, medication discontinuation failures, immediate orders and pro re nata (PRN) medication discontinuation faults, double dosing and incompatible orders facilitated by separation of functions, and wrong orders due to inflexible ordering formats. Indeed, the variability of error definitions and classification systems among different studies makes the interpretation and comparison of results very difficult. Overall, little is known on the type and frequency of prescribing errors in cancer patients and there is no conclusive evidence that information technology (IT) may exert any specific influence over them