• Users Online: 1066
  • Home
  • Print this page
  • Email this page
Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 


 
 Table of Contents  
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Year : 2015  |  Volume : 3  |  Issue : 1  |  Page : 44

The role of information technology in reducing medical errors and human disaster


Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Date of Web Publication17-Dec-2014

Correspondence Address:
Azad Shokri
Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran
Iran
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2347-9019.147205

Rights and Permissions

How to cite this article:
Fayaz-Bakhsh A, Shokri A. The role of information technology in reducing medical errors and human disaster. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage 2015;3:44

How to cite this URL:
Fayaz-Bakhsh A, Shokri A. The role of information technology in reducing medical errors and human disaster. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage [serial online] 2015 [cited 2024 Mar 28];3:44. Available from: https://www.ijhsdm.org/text.asp?2015/3/1/44/147205

Sir,

Ehteshami et al. [1] in their study with the title "The role of health information technology in reducing preventable medical errors and improving patient safety" in 2014 mentioned a variety of technologies to reduce medical errors. Especially, they described the following medication errors which lead to human disaster:

  • Computerized provider order enter
  • Clinical decision support system
  • Barcode medication administration
  • Radio frequency identification
  • Wireless sensor network
  • Electronic health record.


In 2002, a survey was conducted by Kaushal and Bates [2] entitled "Information technology and medication safety: What is the benefit?" For improving patient safety against disaster human, they stated the following technologies which were not mentioned in. [1]


  Automated Dispensing Top


Many hospitals have used robots, which recognize medications using bar codes, to automate the prescription-filling process (ordered, transcribed, and dispensed). A robot decreased the dispensing error rate from 2.9% to 0.6% in an adult hospital.


  Computerized Discharge Prescriptions and Instructions Top


In addition to decreasing medication errors within the ambulatory and hospital settings, information technology can bridge these settings to reduce communication errors further. For example, computers can generate medication instructions and prescriptions at hospital discharge. If an integrated computer system exists, discharge information can be easily exchanged among the inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department settings.

[TAG:2]"Smart" Intravenous Devices[/TAG:2]

Intravenous administration is the route most commonly involved with medication errors. Through simplified programming and computerized checks, "smart" intravenous devices can reduce the chance of error with intravenous medications. These intravenous pumps are especially important for reducing the likelihood of tenfold overdose, a major problem in pediatrics. [2]

It seems that considering these technologies improves patient safety and leads to a reduction of medical errors and human disaster.



 
  References Top

1.
Ehteshami A, Rezaei P, Tavakoli N, Kasaei M. The role of health information technology in reducing preventable medical errors and improving patient safety. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manag 2013;1:195.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Kaushal R, Bates DW. Information technology and medication safety: What is the benefit? Qual Saf Health Care 2002;11:261-5.  Back to cited text no. 2
    




 

Top
 
 
  Search
 
Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
Access Statistics
Email Alert *
Add to My List *
* Registration required (free)

 
  In this article
Automated Dispensing
Computerized Dis...
Smart Intravenou...
References

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed3057    
    Printed210    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded273    
    Comments [Add]    

Recommend this journal


[TAG2]
[TAG3]
[TAG4]