Use of a handheld computer application for voluntary medication event reporting by inpatient nurses and physicians.

Incident reporting systems are ubiquitous, but are limited by low clinician reporting rates and the fact that they identify a relatively small percentage of adverse events. In this feasibility study, a handheld computer-based system for voluntary reporting of medication errors was deployed among physicians and nurses at four academic hospitals. The system demonstrated promise as a supplement to traditional error reporting systems, although even with the increased ease of use, only 16% of clinicians in the study actually reported an error during the study period.