According to the World Health Organization, one in every ten patients is harmed in health care. Medical errors can occur anywhere: doctor’s offices, hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, pharmacies, or patients’ homes. Healthcare professionals may experience profound psychological effects, such as anger, guilt, and depression, which distract them from their own abilities. A medical error represents an error in planning or execution. If it doesn’t result in harm to a patient, it’s called a near-miss. An adverse event during treatment may be the result of an underlying condition, not necessarily because of a medical error.
The use of technology has become a critical part of healthcare worldwide, having shown great results in improving patient safety and reducing medical errors. It has demonstrated remarkable capabilities in analyzing large datasets, identifying patterns, and generating actionable insights, which enables healthcare professionals to provide personalized treatment recommendations. Technology can be used to monitor patients’ health and detect adverse events ahead of time. Please continue reading to explore the innovations that are currently reshaping the healthcare landscape.
Computerized Physician Orders
The doctor must determine the most appropriate remedy, dose, and frequency to provide the patient with the best treatment. Suppose the prescription is handwritten. In that case, the pharmacist or the pharmacy tech needs to read and understand it, which can lead to delays or prescription errors. The patient (or their authorized representative) receives the medication in a timely manner and has to carry out the clinician’s instructions. Each step exposes the physician and the patient to vulnerabilities. Healthcare providers can use a computer to order and administer medications in inpatient and ambulatory settings, therefore saving time and improving efficiency by reducing transcription errors (e.g., duplicate order entry).
The implementation of computerized physician orders can be a complex process, and some users have experienced high-profile failures and safety hazards in some cases that have led to the abandonment of the system. Healthcare institutions must become more attentive to and proactive about identifying unintended consequences to mitigate them early. Doctors face a significant risk of being sued for clinical negligence. Patients are likely to be more informed about their rights today compared to the past, many having consulted with Accident Claims Lawyers and obtained a guide on how to sue for compensation to understand the legal process involved.
Patient Portals
Almost all healthcare organizations have opened patient portals, which are basically Internet-based platforms that give people convenient access to medical records and other health services. When they use the portal, patients don’t have to call the office or request information. Using a secure username and password, individuals can view health information such as recent doctor visits, immunizations, or lab results. Some patient portals make it possible to message doctors, request prescription refills, check benefits and coverage, and even access educational materials. Patient portals are available through standard Internet browsers, but some may be offered via an app on a smartphone or tablet.
There are already systems in place to guarantee information is kept private and confidential, which means the individually identifiable health information is seen only by the staff who is allowed to view it. Patient portals enable parents to access their children’s health information. Even if children are over 16, it’s unlikely they will be granted permission unless there’s a clear reason. Most patient portals tend to be user-friendly, so there’s not much to learn or discover. However, patient portals may seem confusing and difficult to navigate for older adults who are less familiar with technology. Overall, users can get frustrated with patient portals, leading to decreased engagement.
Barcode Medication Administration
Medication errors result in adverse drug events, that is, unexpected incidents or accidents related to the administration of a remedy. Examples are allergic reactions, drug interactions, and overdoses. Barcode medication administration prevents and reduces the risk of unnecessary harm. Medication errors result in substantial financial costs, which include malpractice insurance premiums and losses in worker productivity. When administering medications, a nurse scans the barcode on the patient’s wristband to confirm they’re the right patient and then scans the barcode on the medicine to ensure it’s the right medication at the right dose. Similarly named drugs could cause death or serious injury.
Decision Support
As the name clearly suggests, decision support facilitates the use of data in decision-making, so healthcare professionals can navigate through difficult situations with targeted clinical knowledge. The characteristics of an individual patient are matched to a computerized clinical knowledge base, and specific assessments or recommendations are presented to the physician for a decision. Decision support can be used across care settings, specialties, and pathways to improve healthcare delivery and, above all, reduce errors. Since it’s a sophisticated health IT component, decision support requires computable biometric knowledge, person-specific data, and a reasoning/inferencing mechanism to generate helpful information.
Besides a digital and technical team, leadership is of the essence to ensure sound decisions around design, procurement, and implementation focus on clinical impact and patient benefit. No doubt, technology can analyze data and provide actionable insights, but it always needs human input, so it’s essential to determine performance and identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or opportunities for improvement. A system that has been poorly designed often leads to alert fatigue and clinical burnout. It overwhelms users with unimportant information. In worst-case scenarios, a patient may die. Nevertheless, there’s no evidence that a doctor fares better if they try a simple paper system.
Concluding Remarks
Technology doesn’t replace clinical judgment but strengthens it, meaning healthcare providers have reliable tools to prevent mistakes before they happen. When medical errors are visible, conversations can begin around improving safety, which improves system efficiency and reduces costs associated with patient harm. Healthcare professionals who take advantage of innovations in IT can outpace those who don’t due to their advanced capabilities in boosting productivity. At present, many healthcare facilities are testing technologies to handle different medical errors, including mistakes with medications, dangerous infections, and surgical complications, to name a few. But what does the future look like? No one knows for sure.
