Safety in Healthcare IT Can Improve Patient Safety in Treatment
By making electronic health records (EHRs) mandatory, the federal government believes that it can reduce errors in the healthcare system, improve patient safety, and support better patient outcomes. However, even as healthcare providers switch to EHR systems to meet the 2015 deadline, there are concerns that EHRs are placing patients at risk. Some of the problems that were reported as early as 2011 were: -
Confusing drop-down menus resulted in prescription drug dosage errors
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The display of incorrect information in EHRs resulted in wrong or unnecessary surgery
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Delays in sending medical images or information through the computer network caused serious injury and even death
Other issues reported include poor data display and a large volume of alerts that are “completely irrelevant to life threatening” which can lead to the failure to react to a authentic warning. A recent CNS newsroom report pointed out that the digital patient record can improve patient care only if the physician is treating the right patient. Wrong patient charting happens when healthcare information is missing from the right chart or when it is entered in a wrong chart. This is one of the serious security threats associated with EHR. 'Wrong patient' errors happen when:
The health care provider selects the records of one patient, mistaking that person for someone with the same or similar name
The medical records of two patients' are commingled
A dead patient's chart appears on the computer screen
Last year, a report published in Bloomberg said that most dangerous time for patients seemed to be immediately after a facility set up a new EHR system as this is the time the staff is just learning to use it and several operational issues may have to be dealt with before the EHR system works reliably and accurately.
Measures for Health IT Safety The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a new set of safety guidelines to deal with the patient safety issues posed by EHRs. These guidelines called „SAFER Guides‟ are meant to help in proper patient identification. By combing the latest applied knowledge of health IT safety with practical tools, which will help healthcare providers effectively evaluate and optimize the safety and safe use of EHR technology within their organizations. „SAFER Guides?‟ has been developed by leading health IT safety and informatics researchers and based on the latest available evidence and expert opinion. Each SAFER Guide addresses a critical area for the safe use of EHR. Areas addressed include:
Clinician Communication
Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) with Decision Support
Contingency Planning
High Priority Practices
Organizational Responsibilities
Patient Identification
System Configuration
System Interfaces
Test Results Review and Follow-up
Where Medical Transcription Comes In Documentation in EHRs is much easier with the assistance of a professional medical transcription company. Many physicians find that the cookie-cutter templates of EHRs and patient notes are challenges when it comes to reporting a complete health story. A professional medical transcription company can help physicians ensure that the entire patient story including the narrative is properly recorded. This would, in turn, help balance physician satisfaction, achieve meaningful use of EHRs, and most important, ensure accurate clinical documentation for safe and efficient patient care.