Prevent Errors

The Institute of Medicine reports that medical errors in hospitals are the cause of 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year.  In 2000, President Clinton proposed a series of actions intended to reduce the “unacceptable” number of medical errors in healthcare such as better use of information technology.

You may think system errors are caused by carelessness of lack of effort but this is seldom the case.  The majority of errors in medical care are “system errors” caused by equipment, procedures, job designs, or communication systems used in healthcare.  A large percentage of common avoidable problems are stemmed from medication errors alone.  The technology now exists to prevent many mistakes.  Designing systems that make proper methods easy to achieve and error-prone procedures difficult to accomplish is an example of error prevention. 

By analyzing the cause of why certain errors occur, preventative measures can be developed.  Effective systems at the level of direct patient care are required in order to resolve the issue.  Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is one of these ‘systems’.  The software provides a standardized series of tools, reminders and system checks that can help providers reduce errors.  

Medication Management

As mentioned above, medication errors make up a large percentage of preventable problems.  EMR provides the advanced technology to check for numerous system errors such as:

•  Check for Prescription Errors
•  Check for Dispensing Errors
•  Control Drug Administration
•  Alert for Recalled Medications

Problem Progress Management 

Physicians can use their EMR to easily follow important medical markers over time.  For example, patients with hypertension can be graphed so that an upward trend is noted and appropriate intervention can be taken before blood pressure levels becomes a problem.  

Laboratory Results Management  

Lab results are automatically downloaded into the patients’ chart and await the physician’s electronic signature, decreasing the likelihood of missing labs.

Health Maintenance Rminders

EMR offers the advantage of age and gender specific reminders signaling routine (or overdue) health maintenance items such as breast cancer screenings.

Patient Call Management

Patient cancellations or no-shows are documented as a progress note by the software.  Telephone messages can be replaced by the internal e-mail system and documented in the patient chart.  Messages can be tagged by the degree of importance for efficient organization by priority.

 

Related resources

 

Products
Why EMR?
Return On Investment
Selection & Implementation Prevent Errors