The potential for medical errors may not decline with the adoption of EHR systems and health IT products, as medical personnel may still make mistakes when utilizing these new technologies. The Joint Commission released a pamphlet that provides some examples of how health IT systems can be misused.
For instance, by choosing the wrong drug delivery route from a drop-down menu, a physician ordered an intramuscular injection for a medication that is supposed to be delivered intravenously. In another case, a pharmacist placed an order of acetaminophen for the wrong patient due to having two patient records open at the same time.
Despite these medical errors, well-designed and effectively used EHR systems may be able to detect and prevent errors as well as enhance the monitoring of healthcare quality. EHR technology that integrates clinical decision support tools has proven to decrease adverse events and improve patient health outcomes.
However, EHR systems nonetheless bring certain risks, such as human errors, into the healthcare setting. The Joint Commission offers several recommendations for reducing any potential harms of health IT products. These include:
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1. Maintaining a culture of safety and reliability
2. Developing an effective approach to health IT process improvement and accounting for patient safety risks
3. Establishing superior leadership and oversight of health IT planning and implementation
In addition to these suggestions, medical errors may be reduced if medical devices and EHR systems could be connected and capable of sharing information. A survey released by the West Health Institute shows that a majority of polled nurses believe that the seamless sharing of information via medical devices could decrease the rising number of medical errors in the healthcare setting.
Out of 500 polled nurses, half said they’ve seen a medical error occur because of lack of coordination between healthcare technologies. Additionally, 60 percent of respondents stated that connecting medical devices in a way that allows for automatic sharing of information could significantly cut down on the number of medical errors.
Along with these findings, 74 percent of nurses agreed that it is difficult to coordinate all of the data collected via medical devices. By having technologies that are able to seamlessly share data, it would likely reduce medical errors and give nurses more time to care for their patients.
“Nurses are the front line of patient care and have an unrivaled ability to identify and address problems at the intersection of patients and technology,” Dr. Joseph Smith, West Health Institute’s chief medical and science officer, said in a press release. “The survey helps show how much of a nurse’s time could be better spent in direct care of patients and families, and how errors could be potentially avoided if medical devices, which have been so successful at improving patient care, were able to take the next step and seamlessly share critical information around the patient’s bedside.”
Date: April 9, 2015