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Search results for "Information Professionals"

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Cases & Commentaries

A Picture Speaks 1000 Words

  • Web M&M

Robin R. Hemphill, MD, MPH; September 2013

Admitted to the hospital after hours, a patient with a history of type A aortic dissection had his CT scan read as "no acute changes." However, the CT scan had been compared to a text report of a previous scan, rather than the images. The patient died several hours later, and autopsy revealed the dissection had progressed and ruptured.

Journal Article > Study

Interruptions in a level one trauma center: a case study.

Brixey JJ, Tang Z, Robinson DJ, et al. Int J Med Inform. 2008;77:235-241.

The investigators shadowed emergency department nurses and physicians and identified the types of interruptions that occurred and what factors contributed to them.

Journal Article > Study

Are informed policies in place to promote safe and usable EHRs? A cross-industry comparison.

Savage EL, Fairbanks RJ, Ratwani RM. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2017 Feb 19; [Epub ahead of print].

Poor usability of electronic health records is a patient safety concern. This qualitative study found that usability policies from the Office of the National Coordinator for electronic health records are less prescriptive about testing final products and rely more on attestation, compared to the Food and Drug Administration's usability policies for medical devices or the Federal Aviation Administration's usability policies for avionics. The authors suggest that other agencies' usability policies could inform federal efforts to enhance electronic health record usability.

Journal Article > Study

Developing and evaluating an automated all-cause harm trigger system.

Sammer C, Miller S, Jones C, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2017;43:155–165.

Trigger tools seek to identify adverse events by flagging cases for review based on a particular data point (the "trigger"). Investigators, working through a Patient Safety Organization, sought an alternative to the widely used Institute for Healthcare Improvement Global Trigger Tool, one that would require less time and fewer resources. They developed a single, automated trigger encompassing a multitude of possible harms that could be implemented in real time. The most common harm identified by the novel trigger tool was hypoglycemia. The authors note that their tool detected more adverse events than the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators. An accompanying editorial lauds this study as a step forward in efforts to harness the electronic health records to enhance patient safety through data analysis.

Journal Article > Study

Meaningful use of health information technology and declines in in-hospital adverse drug events.

  • Classic

Furukawa MF, Spector WD, Limcangco MR, Encinosa WE. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2017 Feb 16; [Epub ahead of print].

Electronic health records have both safety benefits and unintended consequences. This analysis used data from the 2010–2013 Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System to compare the incidence of in-hospital adverse events among hospitals that did and did not meet meaningful use requirements for health information technology (IT), according to the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society Analytics Database. Investigators found that hospitals that met meaningful use criteria also reported fewer adverse events. Although the study design does not establish a causal relationship between implementation of health IT and the decline in adverse events, the authors argue that these advances in health IT contributed to this patient safety improvement.

Journal Article > Study

Improving communication with primary care physicians at the time of hospital discharge.

Destino LA, Dixit A, Pantaleoni JL, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2017;43:80-88.

Adverse events after hospital discharge are common. Prior research demonstrates that communication and information transfer between inpatient providers and primary care physicians (PCPs) may be lacking, raising patient safety concerns. This study described how applying Lean methodology, enhancing frontline provider engagement, and redesigning workflow processes within the electronic health record led to improved communication with PCPs around the time of hospital discharge. Through these interventions, the pediatric medical service was able to increase verbal communication with PCPs at discharge to 80%, and they sustained this for a 7-month period. Discharge communication with PCPs across other services improved as well. A previous PSNet perspective discussed the challenges associated with care transitions and suggested opportunities for improvement.

Journal Article > Commentary

Medication safety in the neonatal intensive care unit: big measures for our smallest patients.

Rostas SE. J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 2017;31:15-19.

Medication errors are common in the neonatal intensive care unit. This commentary outlines various strategies one teaching hospital has utilized to reduce risks of medication errors in this care setting, such as use of computerized provider order entry and smart pumps.

Journal Article > Commentary

A QI initiative: implementing a patient handoff checklist for pediatric hospitalist attendings.

Lo HY, Mullan PC, Lye C, Gordon M, Patel B, Vachani J. BMJ Qual Improv Rep. 2016;5:u212920.w5661.

Patient handoffs are vulnerable to errors of omission. This quality improvement project designed and implemented a checklist as a way to standardize the process of pediatric handoffs. The program found the tool to be effective in uncovering problems and physicians felt the checklist supported situational awareness and patient safety.

Journal Article > Study

Pharmacist–physician communications in a highly computerised hospital: sign-off and action of electronic review messages.

Pontefract SK, Hodson J, Marriott JF, Redwood S, Coleman JJ. PLoS One. 2016;11:e0160075.

Although electronic health records (EHRs) with computerized provider order entry are known to improve medication safety, experts have raised concerns that EHRs adversely affect interprofessional communication by reducing personal interactions among providers. This study examined unidirectional computerized messages from pharmacists and physicians within the EHR. Investigators found that less than half of messages from pharmacists were acknowledged by the prescribing physicians. Among the messages in which pharmacists requested a specific action, physicians completed the action about one-third of the time. Messages were more likely to be acknowledged and acted upon when pharmacists and physicians had an existing working relationship. The authors suggest that EHRs should be better designed to foster interprofessional collaboration. A PSNet perspective highlighted the role of pharmacists in interprofessional care and safety.

Journal Article > Review

Context-sensitive decision support (infobuttons) in electronic health records: a systematic review.

Cook DA, Teixeira MT, Heale BSE, Cimino JJ, Del Fiol G. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2017;24:460-468.

Infobuttons, a form of clinical decision support, are small icons in the electronic health record that allow users to access online knowledge resources. This systematic review found some evidence that infobuttons may be helpful despite infrequent use. The authors advocate for further research to determine optimal design and implementation of infobuttons in electronic health records.

Journal Article > Commentary

Incorporating indications into medication ordering—time to enter the age of reason.

Schiff GD, Seoane-Vazquez E, Wright A. N Engl J Med. 2016;375:306-309.

Clear communication during medication prescribing can enhance safety. This commentary advocates for indications-based prescribing coupled with health information technology as a way to improve team communication, medication reconciliation, and patient education and compliance.

Journal Article > Study

Workarounds and test results follow-up in electronic health record–based primary care.

Menon S, Murphy DR, Singh H, Meyer AND, Sittig DF. Appl Clin Inform. 2016;7:543-559.

Implementation of the electronic health record has led to providers engaging in workarounds to circumvent system limitations. This survey found that nearly half of providers at Veterans Affairs medical centers use workarounds when managing test results in the electronic health record. The authors suggest that results management should be improved in future electronic health records and work systems to enhance efficiency and care coordination.

Journal Article > Study

Comparison of accuracy of physical examination findings in initial progress notes between paper charts and a newly implemented electronic health record.

Yadav S, Kazanji N, Narayan KC, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2017;24:140-144.

Compared to paper charts, electronic health records offer safety benefits for physician documentation including better availability and legibility. However, electronic documentation introduces new concerns, such as copy-and-paste practices (which can perpetuate errors) and lack of diagnostic reasoning in electronic notes. This study compared physical exam documentation in initial physician progress notes before and after implementation of an electronic health record. Investigators found more inaccuracies in electronic notes, but more errors of omission in paper charts. Trainee physicians' documentation had fewer errors in both paper and electronic formats. The authors recommend that hospitals discourage copied notes and encourage accurate documentation at the time of the patient encounter. The importance of the physical examination itself was discussed in a PSNet interview with Dr. Abraham Verghese.

Journal Article > Study

Ambulatory computerized prescribing and preventable adverse drug events.

Overhage JM, Gandhi TK, Hope C, et al. J Patient Saf. 2016;12:69-74.

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are a common source of patient harm in the ambulatory setting. A substantial proportion of ADEs are caused by preventable errors in medication prescribing or monitoring. The introduction of computerized provider order entry (CPOE) has been shown to reduce the rate of medical errors in the inpatient setting. This before–after study examined rates of ADEs in primary care practices that implemented a CPOE system in Boston and Indianapolis. At baseline, the potential ADE rate was more than seven-fold greater in Indianapolis compared to Boston. Following CPOE implementation, this rate decreased by 56% in Indianapolis but increased by 104% in Boston, and there was no change overall in preventable ADEs. A recent PSNet annual perspective reviewed the relationship and current evidence linking CPOE and patient safety.

Journal Article > Study

Physician transition of care: benefits of I-PASS and an electronic handoff system in a community pediatric residency program.

Walia J, Qayumi Z, Khawar N, et al. Acad Pediatr. 2016;16:519-523.

The I-PASS standardized handoff protocol is considered the gold standard for inpatient handoffs, having been shown to reduce adverse events among hospitalized patients. In this study, implementation of I-PASS within an electronic medical record resulted in an improvement in handoff quality among pediatric residents. A recent PSNet interview discussed handoffs and the implementation and findings of the landmark I-PASS study.

Journal Article > Study

Clinical decision support for early recognition of sepsis.

Amland RC, Hahn-Cover KE. Am J Med Qual. 2016;31:103-110.

Sepsis is a clinical condition that can be rapidly fatal, thus prompt recognition and treatment is critical. This multicenter retrospective study describes the performance of a cloud-based computerized decision support system aimed at identifying sepsis in patients before infection was suspected.

Journal Article > Commentary

The problem with medication reconciliation.

Pevnick JM, Shane R, Schnipper JL. BMJ Qual Saf. 2016;25:726-730.

Medication reconciliation has demonstrated safety improvement in both inpatient and ambulatory settings. This commentary discusses barriers to reliably implementing medication reconciliation and attributes those challenges to the complexity of health care delivery and the costs involved in developing and sustaining a working process.

Perspectives on Safety > Interview

In Conversation With… Robert M. Wachter, MD

New Insights on Safety and Health IT, July/August 2015

Dr. Wachter is Professor and the Interim Chairman of the Department of Medicine at UCSF. We talked with him about his new book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age.

Journal Article > Study

Computerized dose range checking using hard and soft stop alerts reduces prescribing errors in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Balasuriya L, Vyles D, Bakerman P, et al. J Patient Saf. 2014 Oct 31; [Epub ahead of print].

This before-and-after study found that introduction of a tiered alert system for medication dosages in pediatric patients led to an increase in alerts, but also resulted in fewer overridden alerts and more medication order revisions. This work emphasizes the need to improve electronic medication alerts to make them more actionable and reduce alert fatigue.

Journal Article > Study

Optimization of drug–drug interaction alert rules in a pediatric hospital's electronic health record system using a visual analytics dashboard.

Simpao AF, Ahumada LM, Desai BR, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2015;22:361-369.

Researchers used rapid-cycle iterative interventions to improve drug interaction alerts by eliminating clinically irrelevant notifications. These efforts resulted in fewer alerts and fewer manual overrides of alerts without any serious safety events, emphasizing the often cited need to streamline clinical decision support to prevent alarm fatigue.

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