Electronic Medical Error Essay

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With populations and costs increasing every year, the medical field has taken on more challenges than ever before. Through time, technology has blossomed, education has been improved and hospitals have transformed into team establishments. However, with all great advances come struggle. More people have gotten sick, more diseases have been discovered and more errors have been made. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports approximately 7,000 deaths occur from hospital medication errors and almost 3 billion dollars a year goes toward fixing problems that could have been prevented. Mistakes are an inevitable part of life, yet in health care error can lead to death.
Medication errors are mainly caused by a series of problems within the system. …show more content…

It has allowed life to adapt to an easier, faster and diverse environment. Therefore, using technology to create electronic medical records only makes sense to help organize the health care community, which is a separate world itself. Electronic medical record (EMR) software isn't a cure-all that will eliminate errors, but it can help reduce the odds of mistake. EMR’s are a digital version of patient charts which contain the medical and treatment history of the patient. They track data over time, identify which patients are due for preventive screenings or checkups, check how their patients are doing on certain boundaries as well as monitor and improve overall quality of care within the practice. An EMR serves as an assistant in providing some of the fastest, user friendly and error preventing tools to make both patient and staff happy. Doctors can use the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) to order tests, medications, procedures etc. into the system without forgetting any detail specified to dose, route, and frequency. By using this type of order entry, abbreviations and decimal points that are dangerous can now properly be recognized and not confused. Most systems also offer computerized decision support systems (CDSS) which aid in reviewing orders as they appear, comparing orders both past and present, checking for possible drug interactions, as well as alerting physicians to

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