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In this study, clinicians were notified in real time about critical lab test abnormalities and provided with immediate decision support. However, this intervention did not prevent adverse events attributable to the critical test results, nor did it seem to result in more timely management.

Technical problems with an electronic reminder system resulted in failure to follow up many abnormal fecal occult blood test results.

"Alert fatigue" refers to the tendency of clinicians to ignore safety alerts—for example, warnings about potential drug interactions—if alerts are too frequent or perceived to be clinically irrelevant. However, in this study, less intrusive alerts that did not require physician response were not effective at encouraging use of recommended laboratory monitoring.

This study discovered that use of mobile patient safety information systems can contribute to improvement in services and a reduction in patient risk, but these communication systems may also contribute to physician anxiety.