Characterization of prescribing errors in an internal medicine clinic
A retrospective review of 1411 prescriptions that were handwritten during a five-month time frame was used to identify and characterize medication errors and potential medication errors. Three data sources were reviewed: the handwritten prescription, the electronic health record and the prescription as it had been entered into the pharmacy computer system. Almost 28% of the prescriptions evaluated contained one or more errors or potential errors. Over 90% of the errors were potential errors. Only 0.2% of the errors caused patient harm. Non-clinical errors (illegibility, missing information, wrong dose) may be affected by a basic electronic prescribing system, and clinical errors (drug-disease interaction, contraindication of a drug) may be affected only when more sophisticated levels of CDS programming are added.

The Extent and Importance of Unintended Consequences Related to Computerized Provider Order Entry
The unintended consequences of CPOE are widespread and important to those knowledgeable about CPOE in hospitals. They can be positive, negative, or both, depending on one's perspective, and they continue to exist over the duration of use. Aggressive detection and management of adverse unintended consequences is vital for CPOE success.

Cell phones would be medical devices
Called LifeComm, the service would offer cell phones that could double as glucose meters to monitor blood sugar levels in diabetics, track aerobic activity in dieters or otherwise function as a medical device.

Why Progress Toward Electronic Health Records Is Worse Than You Think
Despite years of concerted national effort, including President Bush's rallying cry in 2004 to get most Americans on e-health records by 2014, the use of digital records is at a precarious place. Just 10% of doctors' offices use them. And while hospitals are expanding their use, the most difficult work--the exchange of data among health care providers, especially with rivals--has barely begun. Technology itself has caused problems. There are legal questions, privacy issues, and competitive pressures surrounding the technology, as well as concerns about return on investment. And data-sharing practices have yet to be widely tested in the real world. It's not hopeless, and a number of ambitious projects for sharing health data show signs of progress.

Design and Evaluation in eHealth: Challenges and Implications for an Interdisciplinary Field
Much has been written about insufficient user involvement in the design of eHealth applications, the lack of evidence demonstrating impact, and the difficulties these bring for adoption. Part of the problem lies in the differing languages, cultures, motives, and operational constraints of producers and evaluators of eHealth systems and services.

The frequency of missed test results and associated treatment delays in a highly computerized health system
Providers encountered 64 patients with missed results during the two week period leading up to the study and 52 patients with treatment delays. The most common missed results included imaging studies (29 percent), clinical laboratory (22 percent), anatomic pathology (9 percent), and other (40 percent). The most common diagnostic delays were cancer (34 percent), endocrine problems (26 percent), cardiac problems (16 percent), and others (24 percent).

Challenges and Opportunities in Documentation of the Nursing Care of Patients
The Work Group has targeted two goals as feasible within 3 years. First, decrease documentation time per working nurse by 25%. Second, for institutions that incur nurse overtime for the purpose of patient care documentation, reduce overtime by ½ hour per week per nurse. Conservatively estimated, achieving these two targets would free up about $94,000,000 per year in the state of Maryland.

New Vision for Personal Health Records - Project HealthDesign E-Primer #1
This is the first in a series of e-primers focusing on topics relevant to national discussions about the design and implementation of patient-centered PHR systems. They hope to usher in widespread development ofpowerful PHR systems that link personal medicaldatawith smart, practical tools that help patients manage their healthandenhance their care. "A New Vision for Personal Health Records" explains how Project HealthDesign's vision of next-generation PHRs can empower patients to improve their health.