Study: ED E-Health Records Can Contribute to Errors

Emergency department electronic health record systems have varying functionality that can lead to problems with "physician decision-making, clinician workflow, communication, and, ultimately, the overall quality of care and patient safety," according to a report published in the current edition of Annals of Emergency Medicine. The report details four scenarios in which ED information systems can lead to medical errors, including communication failures, poor data displays, wrong order or wrong patient mistakes and alert fatigue.

• "EHR Systems Pose Serious Concerns, Groups Say" (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 6/24).
• "Report: Ways To Make ED Information Systems Safer" (Goedert, Health Data Management, 6/24).