Healthcare organizations are not resolving a majority of health IT-related patient safety events, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management.
Healthcare organizations are not resolving a majority of health IT-related patient safety events, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management.
Researchers from MedStar Health’s National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare and Georgetown School of Medicine analyzed 1.7 million patient safety events and identified those that involved health IT.
The researchers categorized the organization’s response into four groups: No Resolution, Training and Education, Policy, and IT-Oriented Solution.
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Close to two-thirds (64 percent) of events did not have a resolution. Of those events that did have a resolution, 55 percent were resolved through training and education, 45 percent by an IT-oriented solution. Only 6 percent of events had more than one method of resolution.
“Health information technology-related patient safety event resolutions most often described a solution that suggested additional training or education for healthcare staff, despite the recognized limitations of training and education in resolving these events,” the study observed.
“Ensuring health information technology-related events are resolved and incorporate effective solutions should be a continued focus area for healthcare systems,” it concluded.
IT and Biomedical Department Silos Could Endanger Patient Safety
One area that might contribute to patient safety issues is the silos between IT and biomedical departments.
A recent study by Frost & Sullivan found that hospitals are improving patient safety by bridging the gap between IT and biomedical departments.
“The growing demand for hospital-based medical device connectivity solutions is expected to result in remarkable changes across the continuum of care,” explained Charlie Whelan, Transformational Health Vice President of Consulting.
“Breaking down silos between the biomedical and IT departments is a critical step in reducing the risk of patient monitoring network outages,” he added.
Frost & Sullivan brought together IT and biomedical executives from hospitals and vendors to discuss best practices for managing patient monitoring networks across IT and biomedical departments.
The panelists agreed that network connectivity is a critical measure of their IT infrastructure and essential for patient safety. Clinician and patients rely on remote patient monitoring to exchange important information that guides health care.
As a result, the network is one of the most critical pieces of health IT infrastructure and can endanger patient safety if it fails for some reasons, the panelists noted.
“Failures are sometimes due to simple things, like an IT department upgrading switches or performing patches that take down the network for the monitoring equipment. So, it is essential to have a tight relationship between IT and Biomedical where it is second nature to update each other. These are not just standard IT networks that you can patch if there’s a problem,” commented one of the panelists, Lou Kowatch, senior director of healthcare digital services at GE.
Medical Device Networking Flaws a Top Health Tech Hazard
In a 2018 study, the ECRI Institute listed flaws in medical device networking that can lead to misdiagnosis or delay in patient care as a top ten health technology hazard.
“Inattention to best practices for implementing networked medical devices and information systems can lead to incorrect or incomplete data transfers and other data communication errors. Such errors can delay diagnosis or treatment or prompt a misdiagnosis, affecting patient safety,” the study observed.
The ECRI study highlighted several examples:
- Lab results being delivered from a laboratory information system (LIS) to the electronic health record (EHR) with reference ranges but no lab values, leading to a delay in patient diagnosis and treatment
- Only partial information being forwarded from a ventilator to the physiologic patient monitor to which it was networked, leading to a delay in patient care and the potential to cause significant patient harm
- Data from a fetal monitor not being correctly displayed on the workstation at the nurse’s station, creating the potential for delayed response to a critical change in the patient’s condition
“With more and more medical devices and information systems being connected through hardwired or wireless networks, it has become increasingly important for healthcare facilities to assess, approve, and implement changes to these networked medical devices and information systems in a controlled manner,” the study stressed.
Date: May 17, 2019
Source: HIT Infrastructure