The Institute of Medicine reported seven thousand deaths annually due to medication errors. It is estimated that two out of one hundred admissions experience a preventable adverse medication event resulting in an average cost of $4,700 per admission, which is $2.8 million dollars annually for a 700 bed hospital (Institute of Medicine, 1999). In Canada, medication related errors were identified as the most common adverse event (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2007). A medication error is “any error that occurs during the process of history taking, ordering, dispensing, administering and surveillance of a medication regardless of whether harm occurred to the patient or if there was potential harm (Eslami, Abu Hanna, & de Keizer, 2007; Ong, 2007). Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) can play a vital role in the prevention of medication errors in the drug ordering stage. It was reported that the occurrence of Adverse Drug Events (ADE) was decreased by fifty-five percent with the addition of CPOE system (Berger & Kichak, 2004). However, the literature review on CPOE impact is heavily focused on the physicians’ perspective (Eslami et al., 2007; Reckmann, Westbrook, Koh, Lo, & Day, 2009; ). Nurses play a significant role in the medication process, as traditionally, nurses are involved in all the medication process stages. Research on the impact of CPOE in the entire medication process is still lacking (Househ, Ahmad, Alshaikh, & Alsuweed, 2013). Understanding the perspective of nurses on the impact of CPOE in their work will increase awareness and understanding of CPOE use among health care professionals and health informaticians. This research adopts a grounded theory approach to explore the question of “how do nurses perceive the impact of CPOE on the medication process and on collaborative practice?” Ten participants were interviewed and out of the ten, eight participants were observed during a portion of their work. The information collected was analyzed using a constant comparative method. Participants described that the CPOE supported legible order communication between care providers and departments. CPOE use removed the requirement to transcribe orders to the medication administration record, as well as, the necessity to fax the order sheet to the pharmacy. However, in the ordering stage the nurse is also involved in providing information for order decision-making. Nurses discuss probable medication orders in cases of urgent situations, or nursing assessments of the patient. In this decision-making, the information requirements of nurses involve not only the medication information, but also information about other orders such as diagnostics, laboratory, and patient care orders. Future CPOE design and CPOE implementations should consider including mobile devices, alerts, and workflow modeling with the nursing information needs. / Graduate / 0710 / 0569 / vitor@uvic.ca

Liya Wang

Substantial research has been done on inpatient provider order entry systems with varying degrees of clinical decision support. Such studies have examined how these technologies impact patient safety as well as the quality and cost of care. However, given that most medical care and prescriptions are administered in an ambulatory setting, the dearth of research on ACPOE systems is quite astonishing. This knowledge gap demonstrates the need for an integrative and systematic literature review that attempts to assess the research done on computerized patient safety interventions in ambulatory care. This review’s findings provided adequate evidence that ACPOE systems are effective interventions for reducing medication errors. Other evidence further indicated that, in terms of functional capabilities, commercial ACPOE and e-prescribing systems may be catching up with their homegrown counterparts. PDA-based CDSSs were depicted as useful tools for raising adherence to guidelines and inducing safer prescribing. These findings suggest that ACPOE And PDA-based CDS systems show promise for improving safety and healthcare quality in ambulatory settings. ACPOE specifically, tended to have more advanced CDS attributes but, nonetheless, showed more negative results compared to the e-prescribing systems. Close scrutiny should therefore be given to the elements of decision support that ambulatory physicians find most useful.

Doctor of Philosophy / Computerised Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems provide clinicians with the ability to electronically enter hospital orders for laboratory tests and services. CPOE is able to integrate with hospital information systems and provide point of care decision support to users thereby making a potentially significant contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery. The evidence of the impact of CPOE systems on pathology services is not extensive and insufficient attention has been paid to their effect on organisational and communication processes. This thesis aimed to investigate the implications of CPOE systems for pathology laboratories, their work processes and relationships with other hospital departments, using comparative examinations to identify the tasks they are involved in and the particular needs the laboratories expect to be filled by the new system. This longitudinal study of a CPOE system was carried out over three years using multiple cases from a hospital pathology service based at a large Sydney teaching hospital. Multi-methods using quantitative and qualitative data were employed to achieve triangulation of data, theory and methods. The findings provide evidence of a significant 14.3% reduction of laboratory turnaround times from 42 to 36 minutes when laboratory data for two months were compared before and after CPOE implementation. The findings also reveal changes in the pattern and organisation of information communication, highlighting transformations in the way that work is planned, negotiated and synchronised. These findings are drawn together in a comprehensive organisational communication framework that is highly relevant for developing a contingent and situational understanding of the impact of CPOE on pathology services.

Electronic medical records (EMR) and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) are recognized as a means to improve quality of care and patient safety. This research examines factors that contribute to clinician acceptance of an EMR implemented in a pediatric hospital system and applies this knowledge to improve implementation methods to ensure they foster acceptance. A framework for User-Centered Implementation (UCI) was developed based on previous EMR and CPOE, technology acceptance, user-centered design, and change management research. The UCI framework identifies tools from change management and user-centered design and links them to the systems development lifecycle stage(s) at which they can be applied to achieve improved user acceptance. Next, a study examined clinician EMR acceptance in a pediatric hospital system at various points during their EMR implementation which employed a UCI-based methodology. Surveys before and after implementation of each phase examined physician, nurse, and other staff perceptions about the systems usefulness (performance expectancy (PE)) and ease of use (effort expectancy (EE)). Results indicate users had positive perceptions of system ease of use (EE) after implementation. Post-implementation PE ratings were neutral or positive for most users. Pre- and post-implementation regression models indicate the factors that influence PE change over time. Compatibility with clinician work practices was important both before and after implementation. Before implementation, users who perceived a greater need for the system and felt their needs were represented during design had higher expectations of system usefulness. After implementation, system characteristics including how well it supports clinical decision making and how easy it is to use influenced PE. Support provided by super users positively influenced both PE and EE after implementation. Based on these findings, guidelines for using UCI to improve clinician acceptance of EMR are presented. Designing EMR systems that are usable within the clinical work context enables clinicians to focus on the patient, rather than the system. Accomplishing this in practice is difficult given the complexity of EMRs and the dynamic clinical processes they support. This studys results indicate the UCI framework can be effectively applied to EMR implementations to improve the usability, utility, and, consequently, acceptance of these systems.

Background: Considerable amount of inappropriate antibiotic utilization has been observed in both acute and non-acute care hospitals. Literature has shown that strategies such as an order entry (OE) and computer decision support system (DSS) have improved prescribing practices in acute care settings. However, there is limited research on the effect of OE on antibiotic utilization in non-acute care settings. Objective: To determine the relationship between OE with DSS and antibiotic utilization in a complex continuing care and rehabilitation hospital. Methods: A retrospective analysis of OE and Pharmacy dispensing data, prospectively collected between July 1, 1999 and December 31, 2005, was conducted. Dispensing events for oral and intravenous antibiotics were merged with corresponding OE’s (when present) to form a final database of 4,739 dispensing events with 2,397 OE’s. The presence of OE and the proportion of OE to dispensing events formed the exposure variable while antibiotic utilization in defined daily dose (DDD) was calculated using dose and number of doses of an antibiotic. Antibiotic utilization was examined at the hospital and individual service in-patient unit levels (complex continuing care/CCC and rehabilitation medicine/REH). Statistical analysis consisting of multiple regression modeling was conducted to determine the association between use of OE and antibiotic utilization. Results: A best-fit model using multiple regression analysis at hospital level indicated a significant positive relationship between the presence of OE and antibiotic utilization when service, patient age, gender and antibiotic classes were accounted for. This model explained 11% of the variation in antibiotic utilization. No significant associations were found in the CCC in-patient unit while in the REH in-patient unit a significant positive relationship between the presence of OE and antibiotic utilization was observed. Similarly, antibiotic utilization increased significantly with increase in the proportion of OE to dispensing events at the hospital and REH in-patient unit levels but not in the CCC in-patient unit. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that antibiotic utilization increased over the years following the inception of the OE system with DSS at the study hospital. Further research is required to examine the effect of OE with a rudimentary DSS on antibiotic utilization management in non-acute care. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2007-07-13 10:47:38.035

Doctor of Philosophy / Computerised Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems provide clinicians with the ability to electronically enter hospital orders for laboratory tests and services. CPOE is able to integrate with hospital information systems and provide point of care decision support to users thereby making a potentially significant contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery. The evidence of the impact of CPOE systems on pathology services is not extensive and insufficient attention has been paid to their effect on organisational and communication processes. This thesis aimed to investigate the implications of CPOE systems for pathology laboratories, their work processes and relationships with other hospital departments, using comparative examinations to identify the tasks they are involved in and the particular needs the laboratories expect to be filled by the new system. This longitudinal study of a CPOE system was carried out over three years using multiple cases from a hospital pathology service based at a large Sydney teaching hospital. Multi-methods using quantitative and qualitative data were employed to achieve triangulation of data, theory and methods. The findings provide evidence of a significant 14.3% reduction of laboratory turnaround times from 42 to 36 minutes when laboratory data for two months were compared before and after CPOE implementation. The findings also reveal changes in the pattern and organisation of information communication, highlighting transformations in the way that work is planned, negotiated and synchronised. These findings are drawn together in a comprehensive organisational communication framework that is highly relevant for developing a contingent and situational understanding of the impact of CPOE on pathology services.

abstract: The objective of this research is to understand how a set of systems, as defined by the business process, creates value. The three studies contained in this work develop the model of process-based automation. The model states that complementarities among systems are specified by handoffs in the business process. The model also provides theory to explain why entry systems, boundary spanning systems, and back-end control systems provide different impacts on process quality and cost. The first study includes 135 U. S. acute care hospitals. The study finds that hospitals which followed an organizational pattern of process automation have better financial outcomes. The second study looks in more depth at where synergies might be found. It includes 341 California acute care hospitals over 11 years. It finds that increased costs and increase adverse drug events are associated with increased automation discontinuity. Further, the study shows that automation in the front end of the process has a more desirable outcome on cost than automation in the back end of the process. The third study examines the assumption that the systems are actually used. It is a cross-sectional analysis of over 2000 U. S. hospitals. This study finds that system usage is a critical factor in realizing benefits from automating the business process. The model of process-based automation has implications for information technology decision makers, long-term automation planning, and for information systems research. The analyses have additional implications for the healthcare industry. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Information Management 2011

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious health concern of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Analysis of the study site semiannual reports from January 2014 through March 2015 indicated 10 VTE events in 546 orthopedic cases. The community hospital was classed as an outlier performing in the bottom 10th percentile when compared to other hospitals. To standardize the ordering of VTE prophylaxis, the hospital developed a postoperative electronic VTE order set. The purpose of this project was to assess the difference in orthopedic VTE occurrences in the postoperative total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients before and after the implementation of the electronic VTE order set. The goal of the project was to use an electronic retrospective chart review to evaluate if the order set implementation influenced the adherence to ordering mechanical and pharmacological prophylaxis in the THA patient. Differences in the ordering of VTE prophylaxis and VTE outcomes were evaluated using a retrospective review of 325 preimplementation order set cases and 406 postimplementation order set cases. This evaluation demonstrated that appropriate pharmacological prophylaxis ordering increased and orthopedic VTE occurrences decreased after the standardized electronic order set was implemented. Social change occurred through the empowerment of clinicians when empirical evidence was provided for use at the point of care, which positively impacted patient outcomes undergoing a common surgical procedure. VTE is no longer considered a routine postoperative orthopedic complication as technology-enabled solutions have proven to be appropriate tools to combat and prevent postoperative VTE complications.

Medication errors increased 64.4% from 2015 to 2018 in the United States due to the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems and the inability to exchange information among health care facilities. Healthcare information exchange (HIE) and subsequent discrepancies resulted in significant medical errors due to the lack of exchangeable health care information using technology software. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies health care business managers used to manage computerized physician order entry systems within health care facilities to reduce medication errors and increase profitability. The population of the study was 8 clinical business managers in 2 successful small health care clinics located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with health care leaders and documents from the health care organization as a resource. Inductive analysis was guided by the Donabedian theory and sociotechnical system theory, and trustworthiness of interpretations was confirmed through member checking. Three themes emerged: standardizing data formats reduced medication errors and increased profits, adopting user-friendly HIE reduced medication errors and increase profits, and efficient communication reduced medication errors and increased profits. The findings of this study contribute to positive change through improved health care delivery to patients resulting in healthier communities.