Processing a prescription through an electronic ordering system can reduce the likelihood of a drug error by half and potentially avoid more than 17 million such incidents in U.S. hospitals in one year alone, according to a new study
supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The
authors evaluated published evidence on the impact of computerized
provider order entry (CPOE) on hospital drug errors and combined this
information with data on the adoption of CPOE and the volume of
medication orders processed annually. The results estimated the
reduction in drug errors for one year, finding that widespread adoption
of CPOE could substantially reduce drug errors.
“Reduction
in medication errors in hospitals due to adoption of computerized
provider order entry systems” appears online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
To access the abstract, select: http://jamia.bmj.com/content/
