Avoiding Medication Errors With Electronic Health Records

By Author: Lisa Taylor
Total Articles: 2
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Electronic medical records can do a lot for physicians in terms of improving patient care. One of the most important functions they can perform is preventing medication errors, or medication reconciliation.

In the United States, medication errors are estimated to affect at least 1.5 million patients each year, and about 400,000 of these harmful events are preventable. In Australia, about one percent of patients have an adverse reaction as a result of a medication error. And in the United Kingdom, about one-fifth of claims to the Medical Protection Society were connected to medication errors.

Research has shown that electronic health records software (EHR) have the biggest impact on reducing medication error, reducing the error rate between50 to 80 percent.

Electronic medical record software can handle the medication reconciliation process for ...
... you automatically comparing a patient’s pending medication order with other medications the patient is taking to avoid omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or harmful drug interactions.
Since most medication errors occur at the point when the prescription is made, making the order electronically, with clinical decision support within the EHR, is a very effective way to improve patient safety. Common errors include using the wrong drug or dosage form, incorrect dose calculation, not checking for allergies, and failure to adjust dosages in patients with renal or liver problems.

The EHR can prevent medication error in several different ways – by making sure that the order is legible and complete, including all necessary information, such as:
• dosage, route and dosage form
• checking for problems such as drug allergies and harmful drug interactions;
• providing dosage adjustment calculations based on clinical elements such as weight or renal function;
• checking for appropriate baseline laboratory results, such as platelet count and international normalized ratio for patients receiving anticoagulants;
• computing drug–laboratory interactions, such as alerting the physician to a low potassium concentration when digoxin is being prescribed; and
• updating the physician with the latest drug information

The physician also can get access to current medication lists, insurance formularies and benefit information.

The EHR also offers other prescription software that helps prevent errors. With a medication renewal, the pharmacy would submit a request through the electronic network to the physician. The physician would then review it, approve it or cancel it electronically, providing an immediate response to the pharmacy.

The EHR can reduce time physicians and their staff members spend answering calls from pharmacies because of handwriting legibility problems or because of prescribing errors. Moreover, electronic prescribing has been shown to increase patient compliance. Research has shown that about 20 percent of prescription orders on paper are not filled because of the inconvenience for patients to bring the paper to the pharmacy and then wait for the order to be prepared. But with an electronic prescribing system, the only thing the patient has to do is go to the pharmacy to pick up the medication. As a result, more patients get their prescriptions filled.

The EHR automatically adds and updates patient demographic records as well, which also makes for quicker and more accurate prescription processing. Plus, the software can give healthcare providers access to patient prescription history from any provider.