Anticlue

CPOE and monitors for medication errors

One of the initiatives of the leapfrog group is that orders are at least 75% via the computer. Several healthcare institutions are looking at implementing computerized physician order entry systems to increase patient safety.

One of the monitors utilized to track the success of an implementation is medication errors. It is a good monitor, because it utilizes a computerized systems front end editing power. Instead of having to look at the written order, physicians must type the order into the system. Here dosing size errors or other mediation alerts can be caught.

One of the industry leaders in cpoe is Maine Medical Center. This article details the success rate of the program using medication errors as a monitor. An important side note, was the convenience of utilizing the CPOE system was a big factor in the success.