Using a pre-post approach, this study assessed the impact of implementing electronic prescribing and smart pump-facilitated standard concentration infusions on medication errors in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The overall error rates were similar before and after implementation but the error types changed before and after implementation of these tools. After implementation, lack of clarity, incomplete orders and wrong unit errors were reduced but dosing errors, altered orders and duplicate errors increased. Pre-implementation, 78% of errors were deemed preventable by electronic prescribing and smart-pumps; post-implementation 27% of errors were attributed to the technology and would not have occurred if the order was not electronically created or administered via the smart-pump.

Parenteral nutrition dosing and preparation is complex and error-prone. This prospective study found that even with computer provider order entry, clinical pharmacist review identified errors in 4% of orders. The authors suggest that pharmacist review be included as part of the parenteral nutrition ordering process in order to prevent adverse events.

According to this before-and-after study, implementation of computerized physician order entry was associated with fewer medication errors and improved legibility. These findings add to the conflicting evidence about introduction of health information technology and errors.

An electronic clinical decision support system for prescribing in the emergency department used tiered alerts with higher and lower urgency information in order to avoid alert fatigue.

Illegible handwriting has been cited as a major factor in several high-profile medication prescribing errors. This Swiss study found that the majority of handwritten prescriptions were considered "bad or unreadable," and more than half of the medication errors in this study were ascribed to transcribing errors attributable to poor handwriting.

Technological solutions such as computerized provider order entry (CPOE) hold promise for reducing medication errors at the prescribing and dispensing stage, but patients may still be harmed by incorrect administration of medications, which have been shown to be disturbingly common in prior studies. Conducted at an academic hospital in Spain that had an established CPOE system, this study found an overall administration error rate of 22%, consistent with prior studies. The hospital in question did not have a barcoding medication administration system. Combining barcoding with CPOE in a closed-loop system has been shown to significantly reduce the overall medication error rate.

This commentary explores how electronic prescribing could reduce medication errors and augment pediatric patient safety.

Human factors engineering issues were implicated in 15% of medication errors at a British hospital that had an established computerized provider order entry system.

Hard stop alerts within computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems are intended to avert serious medication errors by preventing prescribing of contraindicated medications. This study investigated whether data from a CPOE system could be used to identify individual physicians who commit more frequent prescribing errors. However, the study found that trainee physicians who committed errors prompting hard stop alerts were not more likely to commit less serious prescribing errors, nor did they appear to ignore prescribing warnings more frequently. Although objective performance data would help identify doctors who frequently make prescribing errors, this study's results indicate that triggering of CPOE alerts is not a reliable measure.

Prescribing errors remained relatively common at hospital discharge in this study, despite the presence of computerized provider order entry and the use of pharmacists to review discharge medication orders.

The incidence of prescribing errors for chemotherapy drugs remained relatively high in this study, at 10 per 1000 orders, despite use of a computerized provider order entry system.

This study used manual chart review to estimate the incidence of prescribing errors in post-surgical pediatric patients.

This study used a mixed-methods approach, including structured interviews with staff and patients, to determine the types of errors associated with a newly implemented computerized provider order entry system.

Computerized provider order entry is usually considered to be synonymous with computerized physician order entry. However, in this Iranian study, having nurses enter medication orders (which physicians subsequently countersigned) resulted in significantly fewer medication errors.

This qualitative study revealed several themes about perceived barriers and performance outcome effects that physicians expressed about adoption of electronic health records and computerized provider order entry.

This study found that a multidisciplinary system with a computerized pharmacotherapy process intercepted nearly 99% of medication errors with a potential for patient harm.

This study demonstrated that implementation of a CPOE system improved accuracy and compliance around medical orders, particularly for previously missing or incomplete information.

Medication errors remained relatively common at a French hospital despite the presence of a computerized provider order entry system. The article explores the types of errors and possible preventive mechanisms.