Medication errors in emergency departments: is electronic medical record an effective barrier?

Abstract

Objective: To compare medication errors in two emergency departments with electronic medical record, to two departments that had conventional handwritten records at the same organization. Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective, descriptive, comparative study of medication errors and their classification, according to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, associated with the use of electronic and conventional medical records, in emergency departments of the same organization, during one year. Results: There were 88 events per million opportunities in the departments with electronic medical record and 164 events per million opportunities in the units with conventional medical records. There were more medication errors when using conventional medical record – in 9 of 14 categories of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. Conclusion: The emergency departments using electronic medical records presented lower levels of medication errors, and contributed to a continuous improvement in patients´ safety.

Reconciliação de medicamentos e potencial de dano dos erros de medicação na admissão hospitalar de pacientes pediátricos

“…A manipulação ou transformação das formas farmacêuticas podem propiciar uma falha na efetividade e segurança da farmacoterapia. 39 Além de transformar formas farmacêuticas, há cálculos envolvidos para a determinação das doses nessa população, uma vez que as doses são dependentes do peso e/ou superfície corporal. No presente estudo, erros de medicação envolvendo dose foi semelhante ao encontrado por Vaidotas (2019) e Neto (2018).…”

“…No presente estudo, erros de medicação envolvendo dose foi semelhante ao encontrado por Vaidotas (2019) e Neto (2018). [39][40] Os resultados sugerem que as discrepâncias não intencionais podem levar a eventos adversos, se a reconciliação não fosse feita em 48 horas. Este fato é compatível com estudos de 2010), reforçando que a reconciliação de medicamentos deve identificar e corrigir precocemente os erros de medicação com o objetivo de atenuar e prevenir danos secundários ao uso de medicamentos.…”

Usability perception of the health information systems in Brazil: the view of hospital health professionals on the electronic health record

“…Besides, EHR reduces the number of papers filed and conduct errors, stores data for longer and avoids the redundancy of procedures. Furthermore, it increases service productivity and user satisfaction, facilitates intercommunication at points of attention and eliminates duplicate records in the lists of registered users (Gonçalves et al , 2013; Pinto & Santos, 2020; Silva et al , 2019; Vaidotas et al , 2019). However, difficulties in using these systems in Brazil are also a challenge given the high cost of implementation and the need to train professionals to improve usability (Gonçalves et al , 2013).…”

Nurses’ Attitudes and Factors Affecting Use of Electronic Health Record in Saudi Arabia

“…EHRs enable medical staff to access patient data from any location at all times and perform other duties, such as scheduling, issuing requests, seeing laboratory and radiology findings, and updating and prescribing clinical notes [2]. There are numerous advantages to using EHRs, such as improving the quality of medical and nursing documentation, which can lead to a decrease in the occurrence of medical errors related to misinterpretation and, consequently, improve medical and nursing care [3]. Nurses have to improve their abilities for developing and implementing documentation quality to achieve the best patient safety and health outcomes [4].…”