Effects of two commercial electronic prescribing systems on prescribing error rates in hospital in-patients: a before and after study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Considerable investments are being made in commercial electronic prescribing systems (e-prescribing) in many countries. Few studies have measured or evaluated their effectiveness at reducing prescribing error rates, and interactions between system design and errors are not well understood, despite increasing concerns regarding new errors associated with system use. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two commercial e-prescribing systems in reducing prescribing error rates and their propensities for introducing new types of error.

Methods and results

We conducted a before and after study involving medication chart audit of 3,291 admissions (1,923 at baseline and 1,368 post e-prescribing system) at two Australian teaching hospitals. In Hospital A, the Cerner M

SUBMITTER: Westbrook JI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3269428 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature