Study Analyzes Safety of Emergency Department EHRs
A recent study has shown that Emergency Department EHRs can have inconsistent functionality which can lead to a reduction in the quality and safety of patient care. MEDITECH’s Physician Consultant Larry Spector, MD, examines the report, "Quality and Safety Implications of Emergency Department Information Systems" published in the current edition of Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Although the article begins by highlighting the significant advantages in quality improvement and efficiency with the use of an Emergency Department Information System (EDIS), the bulk of the article really highlights the four safety concerns of an EDIS:
The researchers created fictional clinical scenarios to emphasize these four safety concerns and provide realistic insight into the unintended consequences of the implementation of an EDIS. From these scenarios, the researchers were able to identify seven recommendations for the end user and vendor to heed in order to improve patient safety.
At MEDITECH, we are very concerned about the potential of inadvertently creating unintended consequences from the use of our Emergency Department Management (EDM) system, and try to be aware of the potential of introducing new types of errors or safety concerns.
One way we are addressing this issue, and specifically, the potential pitfalls that this article addresses, is by actively engaging employed ED physicians with years of clinical experience, to help improve our EDIS product. As well, we are developing and remodeling our Implementation program, such that we get ED clinicians actively involved from the start. Overall, MEDITECH is already incorporating some of the very recommendations that the authors of this study suggest.
MEDITECH regularly holds “Journal Club” discussions among our employed, consultant physicians, where we analyze various journal articles in the industry and have a poignant discussion on the implications of these study findings and how we can make our own improvements to the MEDITECH system. At a recent discussion, we reviewed and discussed at length the very IOM report that this article refers to, and uses as the basis of their additional ED specific recommendations. The IOM report ,"Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care," essentially suggests that all those involved in health IT systems (vendors, end users) be vigilant in not only documenting and reporting health IT safety issues, but also by encouraging the research and development of safe design, implementation, and use of health IT.
At MEDITECH, we also have a very robust and active Patient Safety Review Board, with a dedicated team of physicians who respond to, and report on, safety issues that arise from the use of our software. In addition, our team reviews every patient safety issue after the fact, to disseminate any necessary changes or recommendations to all potentially affected user sites.