While the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems promises a number of substantial benefits, including better care and decreased healthcare costs, serious unintended consequences from the implementation of these systems have emerged. Poor EHR system design and improper use can cause EHR-related errors that jeopardize the integrity of the information in the EHR, leading to errors that endanger patient safety or decrease the quality of care. These unintended consequences also may increase fraud and abuse and can have serious legal implications.
EHR systems can transform the way healthcare is delivered when these technologies are designed, implemented, and used appropriately. Designed and used inappropriately, EHRs add a layer of complexity to the already complex delivery of healthcare, leading to unintended adverse consequences such as dosing errors, failure to detect serious illnesses, and delays in treatment due to poor human-computer interactions or loss of data.
While much has been written about EHR-associated risks impacting information integrity, and the subsequent actual and potential impacts on quality of care and safety over at least the past decade, little has been done to systematically measure and analyze these risks, identify the root causes, and universally implement strategies (such as system design modifications and adoption of usability principles) to reduce risks.
Reference:
Bowman S. (2013). Impact of electronic health record systems on information integrity: quality and safety implications. Perspectives in health information management, 10(Fall), 1c.
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