Computerized physician order entry: has the time come?
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In the computerized prescription order entry system, it has been pointed out that a physician's input mischoice for medicine is one of the causes of medication errors. We therefore investigated the input mischoices by physicians at the time of writing prescriptions. Subsequently, the number of input characters in a prescription order was changed to three characters from two characters. Furthermore, 105 items of high-alert medications, which are likely to result in injury if errors occur, were established. A warning screen display system that requests reconfirmation of the effect, name, usage, and dosage of those medicines was also built. It was found that 70% of input mistakes were caused by choosing the medicine displayed immediately above or below the desired drug. By changing the number of input characters of a prescription order to three characters from two characters, the rate of specification of a trademark improved sharply from 36% to 85%. Consequently, the rate of choice of a drug with another trademark decreased significantly from 0.028% to 0.0047%. In 5% of cases when the warning screen was displayed for a high-alert medicine, the prescription was stopped, and 25% were changed to other medicines. The above results show that the system that requires the input of three or more characters for the physician order entry and displays a warning screen for high-alert medicines is useful in preventing mischoices at the time of prescription input.
The evaluation of complex medical informatics applications involves not only the information system, but also its impact on the organizational environment in which it is implemented. In instances where these applications cannot be evaluated with traditional experimental methods, computer simulation provides a flexible approach to evaluation. The construction of a computer simulation model involves the development of a model that represents important aspects of the system under evaluation. Once validated, the model can be used to study the effects of variation in system inputs, differences in initial conditions and changes in the structure of the system. Three examples are discussed, namely, a wide-area health care network, physician order entry into a hospital information system, and the use of an information system designed to prevent medical errors that lead to adverse drug events in hospitals.
PURPOSE: In order to better understand physicians' perspectives about the use of clinical information technology (CIT) to reduce medical errors, we asked physicians about opportunities and issues around clinical use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, order sets within CPOE, and handheld computers (HHCs). METHODS: We conducted 10 focus groups including 71 physicians involved in technology implementation efforts across the US between April 2002 and February 2005. RESULTS: Two major themes emerged across focus groups around reliance on CIT to reduce errors: (1) can it work? and (2) at what cost to the medical profession? Within the first theme, physicians expressed concern about the appropriateness of physician-directed CIT as a solution for medical errors, concerns regarding the current technical capabilities and level of technical support for CIT solutions, and concern about the introduction of new errors. Within the second theme, physicians were particularly concerned about time efficiency and workload redistribution associated with the introduction of CIT. Across focus groups, physicians tended to generalize about the role of all IT in their lives, potentially biasing opinions about specific technologies. CONCLUSIONS: Health care organizations attempting to promote physician use of CIT are advised to deepen consideration of physicians' perspectives about technology adoption and use in order to address their concerns, reduce skepticism, and increase the likelihood of implementation success.
Technology can help you comply with the 2003 National Patient Safety Goals from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. EDs are beginning to invest in these resources: Bar-coding systems can ensure that patients receive the correct medication. Software can alert physicians when nonstandard doses are ordered. Computerized order entry can give correct doses if you enter the patient's weight.
As computer technology advances, clinicians and biomedical researchers are becoming more dependent upon information from online databases and information systems. By using specially configured computer workstations and high-speed computer networks, it is now possible to access this information in a rapid and straightforward manner. To empower users by providing these capabilities, the authors are assembling a variety of network workstations to be located throughout Yale-New Haven Medical Center. At the heart of the workstation is NetMenu, a program designed to help users connect to a number of important online information systems, including a hospital order entry and results reporting system, a drug reference, bibliographic retrieval systems, and educational programs. In addition, as part of the National Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project, the authors have developed a local prototype of the UMLS Information Sources Map (ISM) and a companion query assistant program to complement the NetMenu in helping users select and connect automatically to information services relevant to a particular question. The ISM query assistant draws from a listing of many online information sources accessible via local and international networks.
A significant fraction of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events are related to drug-allergy interactions (DAIs). Computerized prescribing can help prevent DAIs, but an accurate record of the patient's allergies is required. At Partners HealthCare System in Boston, the patient's allergy list is distributed across several applications including computer physician order entry (CPOE), the outpatient medical record, pharmacy applications, and nurse charting applications. Currently, each application has access only to its own allergy data. This paper presents details of a project designed to integrate the various allergy repositories at Partners. We present data documenting that patients have allergy data stored in multiple repositories. We give detail about issues we are encountering such as which applications should participate in the repository, whether "NKA" or "NKDA" should be used to document known absence of allergies, and which personnel should be allowed to enter allergies. The issues described in this paper may well be faced by other initiatives intended to create comprehensive allergy repositories.
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Information technology (IT) such as computerized physician order entry, computer-based decision support and alerting systems, and electronic prescribing can reduce medical errors and improve the quality of health care. However, the business value of these systems is frequently questioned. At present a number of barriers exist to realizing the potential of IT to improve quality of care. Some of these barriers are: the ineffectiveness of existing error reporting systems, low investment in IT infrastructure, legal impediments to reforms, and the difficulty in demonstrating a sufficient return on investment to justify expenditures for quality improvement. This paper provides an overview of these issues, a framework for considering business models, and examples of successful implementations of IT to improve quality of patient care.
Kaiser Permanente in the Northwest Region has implemented a comprehensive outpatient computer-based patient record (CPR). Using this system, clinicians electronically order laboratory tests, radiology tests, and prescriptions. Clinicians also use this comprehensive CPR to document encounters, code diagnoses and procedures, maintain problem lists, and to send patient-specific messages and referrals to other medical providers. Healthcare for our entire membership of 440,000 covered lives is now provided through this system [1]. Implementation of a comprehensive CPR with direct physician order-entry provides the opportunity to embed guidelines into the ordering process. This article describes the underlying theme and various simple but effective methods we use to embed guidelines into the ordering process. Our experience demonstrates the powerful effect of these simple methods to reduce unnecessary variation and to reduce cost while maintaining or improving the quality of care delivery.
At New England Deaconess Hospital (NEDH), identifying nursing diagnoses and collaborative problems treated during the patient's hospitalization and saving this information as part of the computerized core clinical data base is essential to a professional practice model for the delivery of nursing care. Providing the patient with concise, easy-to-read discharge instructions and referral agencies with consistent information about the patient's functional status and directions for patient care are important components of delivering high quality patient care. ODISY (the On-line Deaconess Information System) facilitates an automated nursing discharge summary function in addition to an automated medical discharge summary, interdepartmental communication via order entry and results reporting, and other user designed functions that support patient care. Utilization of this function strengthens the multidisciplinary discharge care planning process, increases patient satisfaction, facilitates the identification of nursing diagnoses and collaborative problems treated by nurses and physicians, saves a significant amount of nursing time in the preparation of discharge information, and enables the hospital to meet Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) standards and state regulations for discharge planning.
Drug-related problems include medication errors (involving an error in the process of prescribing, dispensing, or administering a drug, whether there are adverse consequences or not) and adverse drug reactions (any response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used in humans for prophylaxis, diagnosis or therapy of disease, or for the modification of physiological function). Furthermore, adverse drug events can be defined as an injury--whether or not causally-related to the use of a drug. Drug-related problems are relatively common in hospitalised patients and can result in patient morbidity and mortality, and increased costs. In order to get an overview of studies on drug-related problems in hospitalised patients, with specific attention to the incidence of drug-related problems and their costs, to the possibilities of prevention and to the effect of these interventions, we performed a literature search. Incidences of medication errors reported in studies vary widely. The range of reported incidences of adverse drug reactions is even wider. These wide ranges can be largely explained by the different study methods and definitions used. Problems related to drug therapy may be averted by preventive interventions. Several possibilities for prevention exist, especially for the prevention of medication errors. Prescribing, transcription and interpretation errors can be reduced by using computerised physician order entry. Together with the use of automated dispensing systems and bar-code technology, this will aid in the reduction of both dispensing and administration errors. Education of nursing staff involved in the process of drug distribution is another important measure for preventing medication errors. Finally, the introduction of systems for the early detection of adverse drug reactions may help to reduce problems related to drug therapy. Identifying risk factors that contribute to the development of adverse drug reactions, may aid in the prevention of these reactions.
BACKGROUND: Inappropriate use or excessive dosing of psychotropic medications in the elderly is common and can lead to a variety of adverse drug events including falls, oversedation, and cognitive impairment. METHODS: We developed a database of psychotropic medication dosing and selection guidelines for elderly inpatients. We displayed these recommendations to physicians through a computerized order entry system at a tertiary care academic hospital. The system was activated for 2 of 4 six-week study periods in an off-on-off-on pattern. Main outcome measures were agreement with the recommended daily dose for the initial drug order, incidence of dosing at least 10-fold greater than the recommended daily dose, prescription of nonrecommended drugs, inpatient falls, altered mental status as measured by a brief nursing assessment, and hospital length of stay. RESULTS: A total of 7456 initial orders for psychotropic medications were prescribed for 3718 hospitalized elderly patients with a mean +/- SD age of 74.7 +/- 6.7 years. The intervention increased the prescription of the recommended daily dose (29% vs 19%; P<.001), reduced the incidence of 10-fold dosing (2.8% vs 5.0%; P<.001), and reduced the prescription of nonrecommended drugs (10.8% vs 7.6% of total orders; P<.001). Patients in the intervention cohort had a lower in-hospital fall rate (0.28 vs 0.64 falls per 100 patient-days; P = .001). No effect on hospital length of stay or days of altered mental status was found. CONCLUSION: A geriatric decision support system for psychotropic medications increased the prescription of recommended doses, reduced the prescription of nonrecommended drugs, and was associated with fewer inpatient falls.
The Human Genome Project (HGP) and e-Health are two fundamental changes that will alter the way we approach human health and life. These two scientific and societal forces will inevitably impact each other. This paper not only explores the ways that the HGP will change health care but also investigates the ways that e-Health systems will be influenced by the genomic data. The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is discussed at length, including the probable impact on the laboratory, pharmacy, computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and other components. Thirteen points of a possible genomic future involving the EMR are presented. The genomic impact on other e-Health systems includes those at all levels of data: population, disease, patient, tissue and organ banks, cellular and for specific genes. The genomic impact on consumer health systems is explored, including Internet consumer information resources and the movement for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. The paper concludes that technology and trends of e-Health will enable the upcoming revolution caused by the health implications of the research emanating from the Human Genome Project.
Excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance and to increased hospital costs. Denver's three major teaching hospitals have developed a multifaceted approach that has curbed inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and reduced costs for antibiotic purchases. A joint antibiotic-use committee with representatives from each hospital's pharmacy and therapeutics committee developed a single antibiotic formulary for systemically active antibacterial agents, based on simplicity, clinical efficacy, previous use patterns, local resistance patterns, and relative cost. This formulary includes primary agents, ordered at the prescriber's discretion; secondary agents, ordered only for an approved condition; and restricted agents, which had been used excessively or inappropriately in the past, and are now dispensed only after consultation with infectious disease specialists. A computerized antibiotic order-entry program at the Denver V.A. Medical Center requires all physicians to enter antibiotic requests through a centralized computer system. Drug utilization is evaluated using data collected from the computer data base and in vitro data from the microbiology laboratory. In addition, appropriate antibiotic prescribing and infection control practices are taught in an education program for physicians, nurses, and other health care workers.
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