No doctor or medical facility wants to experience a medical error; it’s a terrible scenario. Although the majority of healthcare workers and the majority of customers, patients, and consumers are aware that doctors occasionally make errors, most take precautions to ensure accuracy in all areas of a patient care scenario.
Every year, thousands of individuals encounter medical blunders of some kind and even pass away. As per a new report by Johns Hopkins University, medical errors are presently the third leading reason for mortality in the United States. Alarmingly, according to data gathered over the course of the eight-year study, medical mistakes cause almost 250,000 fatalities each year.
Over the past ten years, both inpatient and outpatient settings have implemented electronic health records (EHRs) to a large extent. The electronic patient “chart” is the primary component of EHR systems, which also frequently feature CPOE (computerized physician order entry), laboratory and imaging reports, and interfaces for medical devices. The system should provide a seamless, readable, thorough, and long-lasting record of a patient’s medical history and care. However, the switch to this new system for storing and transmitting medical data has also created more room for error and other unintended effects that may pose a safety concern.
The most typical medical error?
Patient care mistakes do occur. The likelihood of a drug mistake, one of the most frequent, rises when a patient sees many doctors. This happens frequently in patient care situations where a patient is seen by many teams or experts. This typically happens when a patient intentionally withholds information, for example by refusing to say that they are seeing many doctors.
Wrong dosages, cooperation with different meds (remedy or over-the-counter), or accidental solutions of some unacceptable medication are more frequent than large numbers of us might want to accept regard to medical mistakes. Fortunately, most of these missteps can stay away. School Health Records from EduHealth satisfy each and every requirement of an EHR system.
By highlighting potential medication interactions and/or adverse responses, EHR systems can aid in the prevention of medical mistakes. Most mistakes in medication prescriptions are brought on by:
prescription of medications that may interact with one another (prescription or over-the-counter)
the typical items that a patient could eat while taking a certain medicine
prescribing a medication to a patient who has allergies to it or has had a negative reaction to it
not completely understanding and taking into account possible harmful side effects depending on a particular patient’s medical history
Improper portion or recurrence proposals
- The present EHR frameworks have various devices that might send cautions for prescription/food or medication/drug communications, as well as twofold check for sensitivities or earlier records of awful medication reactions.
Features of EHR databases can help doctors and other members of the care team swiftly study any medicine, its adverse effects, and/or any potential contraindications. These systems frequently include formularies for the recommended and typical dose and administration of particular medications.
According to recent research, EHR system reconciliation tools and alternatives can cut pharmaceutical mistakes by more than 50%. Some of these hospital-specific systems make use of split screens to assess potential interactions or harmful adverse responses between pre-admission drugs and any prospective new prescriptions that could be administered for an existing patient.
- When it comes to preventative care, EHR systems decrease medical mistakes.
Because of changing limitations in medical services and deficiencies of doctor care in numerous areas, specialists are beginning to experience bigger quantities of patients. Any doctor would find it challenging to maintain track of preventative care for any particular patient, much fewer hundreds in one geographic region, using paper records.
Doctors are consistently educated about observing and follow-up care utilizing an EHR framework. The number of patients who “slip through the cracks” can be decreased with the use of automated reminders for procedures like mammograms, yearly flu shots, and children’s vaccines. Patients with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, need to be closely tracked, watched over and followed up with prompt treatments that also adhere to certain treatment regimens as specified by legal requirements.
EHR systems frequently allow doctors to establish recurring notifications for particular patients. Look for a system that supports changeable or customizable choices to guarantee that this option is offered.
- Minimizing testing procedure overlap and missing lab findings
Repetitive testing processes not only jeopardize reimbursement rates but also run the risk of confusing patients and having them skip important tests. Medical professionals are often concerned about missing test findings. In order to prevent medical mistakes in this area, an EHR system is capable of documenting consultations, testing, referrals, and lab findings. To make sure that nothing is missed, EHR software may notify of upcoming and finished lab tests and explain whether or not findings fall within normal limits.
