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Computerized systems inform physicians of costs of tests at the point of care. The system decreases utilization of testing by 10% to 15% without compromising quality of care received by patients. Eighty percent of health costs come from diagnostic tests and pharmaceuticals ordered by physicians.
Computerized drug prescribing alerts can improve patient safety, but are often overridden because of poor specificity and alert overload. We developed a selective knowledge base of only clinically significant drug alerts and designated only critical-high severity alerts to be interruptive to clinician workflow (a tiered approach). Using this approach, we were able to achieve a 67% clinician accept rate for ambulatory computerized prescribing alerts.
Medication errors have come to the forefront in healthcare and oversight organizations as well as to the public over the past several years. There has been an increasing focus on this area of patient care requiring more intensive evaluation and intervention to prevent these errors. Although it is difficult to ascertain the true occurrence of medication errors, they may occur as frequently as once in every 20 orders. Children are at higher risk for medication errors and adverse drug events for numerous reasons. Not only is there great variability in weight and body surface area in this population, there is also significant differences in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many medications when compared to adults. In addition, our knowledge of pharmacogenetics and phenotypic ontogeny must be applied. Sources of medication errors are identified, and specific examples and solutions to improve medication use in children are provided. It is critical to have 1) personnel trained in pediatrics to prescribe, prepare, dispense and administer medications, 2) a quality review system in place to review drug use and medication errors, and 3) to implement computerized physician order entry with decision support and other tools in the next decade to improve pharmacologic therapy for pediatric patients.
Hospitals and other health-care providers today are being pressed more than ever to use technologies for reducing medical errors. Particularly, medication errors are likely to increase fast as Americans age. This paper intends to provide a starting point for understanding information technologies and database systems supporting such technologies as Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Automated Dispensing System (ADS), and Bar Coding System designed to reduce medication errors in hospitals. Although vendors provide the necessary communication software and applications, actions involving governments, technology vendors, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical researchers are needed to put to actual use the applications with a massive potential to significantly reduce medication-related errors.
BACKGROUND: Many medical injuries are preventable, but there are few reported successful strategies to prevent such injuries. Previous work identified coverage by house staff not primarily responsible for the patient (cross-coverage) as a significant correlate of risk for preventable adverse events. A four-month intervention--computerized sign-outs--was introduced in 1993 in an urban teaching hospital to improve continuity of care during cross-coverage and thereby reduce risk for preventable adverse events. MEASUREMENTS: A previously tested confidential self-report system was used to identify adverse events, which were defined as unexpected complications of medical therapy that resulted in increased length of stay or disability at discharge. A panel of three board-certified internists confirmed events and evaluated preventability based on case summaries. RESULTS: After the intervention, the rate of preventable adverse events among the 3,747 patients admitted to the medical service decreased from 1.7% to 1.2% (p < 0.10). Both univariate and multivariate analysis revealed no association between cross coverage and preventable adverse events after the intervention. In the baseline period, the odds ratio (OR) for a patient suffering a preventable adverse event during cross coverage was 5.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-18.2; p = 0.01), but was no longer significant after the intervention (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 0.2-9.0). CONCLUSION: House staff are willing participants in efforts to measure and improve the quality of health care systems. The intervention may have reduced the risk for medical injury associated with discontinuity of inpatients care. Four years after the end of the study, the computerized sign-out program remained an integral part of the computing support system for house staff and was widely used.
In May of 2001, thirteen experts on computerized provider order entry (CPOE) from around the world gathered at a 2-day conference to develop a consensus statement on successful CPOE implementation. A qualitative research approach was used to generate and validate a list of categories and considerations to guide CPOE implementation.
These are trying times for advocates of computerized physician order entry (CPOE). A recent study in JAMA identified more than 20 types of error risks that were caused by a CPOE system. Market research indicates that fewer than 10% of provider organizations have implemented CPOE systems, with very slow growth forecast. But the rapid--and so far, successful--deployment of a CPOE with a clinical decision support component at Duke University Hospital shows a more positive side.
More than 48,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients can expect to have some adverse events related to their care each year. Historically, 20% of these adverse events have been medication related, and two thirds have been thought to be preventable. Since the majority of these errors occurred during the order writing process, the prioritized changes made at the joint pediatric program for Children's Hospital, Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have been the initiation of templated orders and the development of a computerized order entry system. The goal of this initiative was to decrease errors related to chemotherapy administration by creating legible, complete, clearly defined order sets, and at the same time, to make order writing and reviewing more efficient. Chemotherapy templates were created using a consistent format and a rigorous multidisciplinary review process. Each order set includes the following: identification of the patient and cycle of chemotherapy to be given, criteria necessary to receive chemotherapy, chemotherapy orders with modifications if appropriate, and supportive care orders. Templated order sets have reduced the duplication of work efforts by significantly reducing the number of changes made during the order verification process; orders are more complete, and standardization has occurred.
Personal order sets (POS) have been touted as important for the success of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. However, POS may systematize practice variability and are difficult to centrally administer. Few studies have looked at the characteristics and use of POS in a community hospital. We examined how POS are used at the Queen's Medical Center (QMC). POS are an important part of the success of the QMC CPOE, but have definite disadvantages.
BACKGROUND: Medication errors are common, and while most such errors have little potential for harm they cause substantial extra work in hospitals. A small proportion do have the potential to cause injury, and some cause preventable adverse drug events. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of computerized physician order entry (POE) with decision support in reducing the number of medication errors. DESIGN: Prospective time series analysis, with four periods. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: All patients admitted to three medical units were studied for seven to ten-week periods in four different years. The baseline period was before implementation of POE, and the remaining three were after. Sophistication of POE increased with each successive period. INTERVENTION: Physician order entry with decision support features such as drug allergy and drug-drug interaction warnings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Medication errors, excluding missed dose errors. RESULTS: During the study, the non-missed-dose medication error rate fell 81 percent, from 142 per 1,000 patient-days in the baseline period to 26.6 per 1,000 patient-days in the final period (P < 0.0001). Non-intercepted serious medication errors (those with the potential to cause injury) fell 86 percent from baseline to period 3, the final period (P = 0.0003). Large differences were seen for all main types of medication errors: dose errors, frequency errors, route errors, substitution errors, and allergies. For example, in the baseline period there were ten allergy errors, but only two in the following three periods combined (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Computerized POE substantially decreased the rate of non-missed-dose medication errors. A major reduction in errors was achieved with the initial version of the system, and further reductions were found with addition of decision support features.
Misread or misinterpreted hand-written prescriptions or medication orders are the most important cause of life-threatening or serious drug related adverse effects occurring in hospital in-patients. There is convincing evidence in the literature showing that computerized systems for physician order entry, with on-line screening of drug related orders for compatibility with patient characteristics (e.g. age, renal function), drug information (e.g. dose limits, drug-drug interactions) and sets of institutional rules of performance can reduce rates of medication related errors by 80% and more. Reduction of error-related hospital costs would generate the funding required for implementation of such systems, a need that must be met without delay.
Several analyses have detected substantial quality problems throughout the health care system. Information technology has consistently been identified as an important component of any approach for improvement. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is a promising technology that allows physicians to enter orders into a computer instead of handwriting them. Because CPOE fundamentally changes the ordering process, it can substantially decrease the overuse, underuse, and misuse of health care services. Studies have documented that CPOE can decrease costs, shorten length of stay, decrease medical errors, and improve compliance with several types of guidelines. The costs of CPOE are substantial both in terms of technology and organizational process analysis and redesign, system implementation, and user training and support. Computerized physician order entry is a relatively new technology, and there is no consensus on the best approaches to many of the challenges it presents. This technology can yield many significant benefits and is an important platform for future changes to the health care system. Organizational leaders must advocate for CPOE as a critical tool in improving health care quality.
OBJECTIVES: Despite evidence documenting their ineffectiveness, sliding scale insulin is a commonly used regimen for glucose management for hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus. At the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Medical Center, where computer order entry has been mandated, we tested the hypothesis that an evidence-based minimal intervention order (supplemental insulin only when fasting serum glucoses exceeded 400 mg/dl) would decrease the use of sliding scale insulin orders. METHODS: Using a computerized order entry system, providers were initially offered a traditional sliding scale order or their own ad hoc orders for glycemic control of inpatients. After 34 weeks providers were offered a third option; a "minimal intervention order" with supplemental insulin only for glucose > 400 mg/dl. We extracted all regular insulin orders and performed a retrospective review of insulin sliding scale orders written between December 1, 1998 and November 16, 1999. We compared the frequency of traditional insulin sliding scale orders before and after the introduction of the minimal intervention order. RESULTS: Nearly all orders in the first 34 weeks were traditional insulin sliding scales. We found a significant decrease in the number of traditional insulin sliding scale orders in the 16 weeks after the introduction of a computerized quick-order for minimal intervention, from 978/1007 (97.1%) to 254/398 (63.8%) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A simple, evidenced-based quick-order in a computer order entry system rapidly and significantly reduced use of sliding scale insulin regimens for glycemic control of inpatients.
The medication error dilemma has come to the forefront of most hospitals' improvement agendas. The most often cited solution to the problem has been computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. These systems have significant potential to improve errors associated with illegibility as well as inappropriate drug use and dosing. On the other hand, CPOE system implementation is fraught with barriers that impede acceptance and use of these systems. Knowing what strategies have proven successful and what upfront analysis is required can help increase the chances of success and ultimately improve the quality of patient care.
The authors describe design, implementation, and use of a new order entry system module for neonatal intensive care. WizOrder is a Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) system developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Since WizOrder's introduction in 1995, it has been continually refined and enhanced; especially when new hospital units and specialties are implemented. Recently, in March 2003, WizOrder was updated and implemented in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Designing and implementing a computerized physician order entry system in the critical care units of a large urban hospital system is an enormous undertaking. With their significant potential to improve health care and significantly reduce errors, the time for computerized physician order entry or physician order management systems is past due. Careful integrated planning is the key to success, requiring multidisciplinary teams at all levels of clinical and administrative management to work together. Articulated from the viewpoint of the Chief Information Officer of Lifespan, a not-for-profit hospital system in Rhode Island, the vision and strategy preceding the information technology plan, understanding the system's current state, the gap analysis between current and future state, and finally, building and implementing the information technology plan are described.
Computerized assistance to clinicians during physician order entry can provide protection against medical errors. However, computer systems that provide too much assistance may adversely affect training of medical students and residents. Trainees may rely on the computer to automatically perform complex calculations and create appropriate orders and are thereby deprived of an important educational exercise. An alternative strategy is to provide a critique at the completion of an order, requiring the trainee to enter the entire order but displaying an alert if an error is made. While this approach preserves the educational components of order-writing, the potential for errors exists if the computerized critique does not induce clinicians to correct the order. The goal of this study was to determine (a) the frequency with which errors are made by trainees in an environment in which renal dosing adjustment calculation for antimicrobials are done by the system after the user has entered an order, and (b) the frequency with which prompts to clinicians regarding these errors leads to correction of those orders.
We sought to identify the barriers to CPOE implementation and the strategies for overcoming them. By analyzing 57 transcripts of interviews with management officials at 25 US hospitals, we identified costs and physician resistance as the two most significant barriers. Hospitals often overcome the high cost of CPOE implementation by placing patient safety at the top of their agenda. Other hospitals manage physician resistance by leveraging strong leadership, external influence, vendor commitment and the presence of house staff and hospitalists. Efforts to promote the adoption of CPOE should therefore focus on these strategies.