Measuring and improving patient safety through health information technology: the Health IT Safety Framework.

Health information technology (IT) has promise for improving safety, but processes to measure and monitor its specific effect are lacking. Drawing from sociotechnical approaches and continuous quality improvement, this commentary outlines a framework for tracking improvements associated with the use of health IT. The framework focuses on three areas: concerns unique to technology, problems with use and misuse of health IT, and the ability of health IT systems to identify a failure and prevent it from affecting the patient.