According to Andrew Gettinger, a physician and chief safety officer in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the data indicate that the change from manual to electronic ordering and prescribing is improving the safety of patients, and the systems are signaling nine in 10 potential mistakes. However, Gettinger also said that the report serves as a warning to health care professionals that more needs to be done concerning the health and safety of patients.
In 1999, research results indicated that CPOE led to an 88 percent decline in medication mistakes. However, several physicians have said that the electronic health records are too expensive, time-consuming and difficult to use. Other detractors have stated that the systems are without much-needed safeguards to prevent physicians from duplicating information between charts, either due to a mistake or in an effort to commit fraud. According to a report released by Castlight Health, a data analytics company, and Leapfrog Group, a hospital rating organization, approximately 40 percent of the most frequent, severe mistakes were unnoticed.
In addition, there have been studies that have revealed that a considerable number of possibly detrimental mistakes are caused by incorrect information about patients in the records. One fatal error occurred in 2010 when a woman died because a crucial heart medication was stopped by mistake in a hospital due to issues concerning electronic health records. Her son, Dr. Scot Silverstein, who was formerly a hospital chief medical informatics officer, and is now an independent expert witness in lawsuits, thinks that there are dozens of imminent lawsuits regarding medication mistakes.
Approximately one-third of hospitals that took Leapfrog’s test failed to score “fully implemented,” which implies that their systems did not inform physicians about detrimental medication mistakes. And more than half of hospitals do not take part in Leapfrog’s survey, and many of them that take the test decline to take the two-hour test that indicates whether their systems would issue warnings about errors.
The post Digital medication orders in hospitals reduce drug errors, but can cause fatal mistakes first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>According to a report from hospital rating organization The Leapfrog, CPOE systems have significantly reduced the number of dangerous drug errors. However, they still fall short of catching all possible mistakes and require clinicians to recheck orders to truly prevent patient harm. Leapfrog surveyed 1,750 U.S. hospitals and collaborated with Castlight Health to analyze the data. Participating hospitals were asked to use dummy patients with fake drug orders to test their digital systems.
The findings released on April 7 showed around 40 percent of potentially harmful medication errors were not caught by the systems. Mistakes included prescribing an adult dosage to a child, giving medication orders for the wrong illness, or overlooking dangerous drug interactions. In addition, computer systems failed to flag 13 percent of errors that could potentially have killed patients.
“CPOE systems have done a remarkable job in reducing the likelihood of medication errors, but mistakes are still seen with far too much frequency,” said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder. “Hospitals spend millions of dollars to implement CPOE systems, but our results clearly show that many hospitals’ systems are not operating as well as they should, putting patients’ lives at risk.”
The results show that while technology is helpful, it is not foolproof. The survey highlights the need for hospitals and patients to be cautious when it comes to managing their medications. Erica Mobley, Leapfrog’s development and communications director, recommended supplementing computer checks with system-wide initiatives such as manual medication reconciliation activities.
Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.
The post Hospital computer systems fall short in preventing drug errors first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>According to a report from hospital rating organization The Leapfrog, CPOE systems have significantly reduced the number of dangerous drug errors. However, they still fall short of catching all possible mistakes and require clinicians to recheck orders to truly prevent patient harm. Leapfrog surveyed 1,750 U.S. hospitals and collaborated with Castlight Health to analyze the data. Participating hospitals were asked to use dummy patients with fake drug orders to test their digital systems.
The findings released on April 7 showed around 40 percent of potentially harmful medication errors were not caught by the systems. Mistakes included prescribing an adult dosage to a child, giving medication orders for the wrong illness, or overlooking dangerous drug interactions. In addition, computer systems failed to flag 13 percent of errors that could potentially have killed patients.
“CPOE systems have done a remarkable job in reducing the likelihood of medication errors, but mistakes are still seen with far too much frequency,” said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder. “Hospitals spend millions of dollars to implement CPOE systems, but our results clearly show that many hospitals’ systems are not operating as well as they should, putting patients’ lives at risk.”
The results show that while technology is helpful, it is not foolproof. The survey highlights the need for hospitals and patients to be cautious when it comes to managing their medications. Erica Mobley, Leapfrog’s development and communications director, recommended supplementing computer checks with system-wide initiatives such as manual medication reconciliation activities.
Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.
The post Hospital computer systems fall short in preventing drug errors first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>