Computerized physician order entry systems can reduce medication and transcription errors, according to a review of several CPOE studies conducted by University of Minnesota researchers and published in the online journal Health Services Research, EurekAlert! reports.
The researchers reviewed analyzed 12 studies conducted between 1990 and 2005 that compared the number of handwritten and computerized medication errors in U.S. hospitals. Illegible handwriting and transcription errors made up more than 60% of the errors, although the number of errors dropped by 66% once the hospitals adopted CPOE systems.
However, the review found that incidence of prescribing the incorrect drug did not decrease when CPOE systems were introduced. The number of adverse prescription drug events in five of the 12 studies also did not decrease, EurekAlert! reports.
CPOE systems were most effective when the hospital's rate of medication errors was more than 12%, according to the review.
"Evidence from these studies show that computerized systems can reduce mistakes, but unfortunately less than 50% of hospitals have implemented these systems," Tatyana Shamliyan, lead review author and a research associate at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said.
Robert Kane, co-author of the review, said CPOE systems can combine with electronic health record systems to create a central location for physicians to efficiently enter and view patient medical and prescription histories (EurekAlert!, 6/27).