A Tomografia de Impedância Elétrica (TIE) é uma técnica de imageamento, ainda em desenvolvimento, por meio da qual são extraídas imagens correspondentes à distribuição da impedância elétrica de uma seção transversal de um objeto sob análise a partir de medidas elétricas realizadas em sua superfície. Apesar de seus benefícios e vantagens sobre outras técnicas de imageamento, suas imagens não oferecem uma boa resolução espacial. Em imagens TIE de tórax, um dos maiores desafios reside no tratamento da perfusão pulmonar, pois as perspectivas de uso clínico são inúmeras. Assim sendo, melhorar a localização de seus principais órgãos é um dos grandes objetivos. Com o intuito de melhorar a resolução anatômica foi desenvolvida uma metodologia para identificação de região cardíaca em imagens de tomografia de impedância elétrica de perfusão pulmonar por meio da transformada wavelet, utilizando imagens TIE de porcos. Inicialmente foi realizada uma série de estudos de diferentes abordagens com vistas a identificar aquelas características que pudessem indicar similaridades ou diferenças intrínsecas entre os pixels de diferentes regiões anatômicas. Com base nestes estudos, cinco métodos baseados na análise wavelet foram desenvolvidos. Um primeiro conjunto de experimentos, realizado em um único porco, foi utilizado no desenvolvimento e aperfeiçoamento dos métodos. Posteriormente, outros experimentos, envolvendo quatro porcos em diferentes condições fisiológicas, foram utilizados na avaliação de desempenho destes métodos. As imagens de perfusão wavelet foram comparadas com as imagens de perfusão obtidas pelo método de injeção de uma solução hipertônica, considerada como padrão de referência das imagens de perfusão. A metodologia wavelet proposta por este trabalho foi o método, dentre os cinco desenvolvidos, que obteve os melhores resultados. Ela foi capaz de identificar a região cardíaca de cinco porcos submetidos a diversas condições fisiológicas, demonstrando robustez e resultados muito satisfatórios, não apenas em termos quantitativos, com uma área média da curva ROC de 0,86, mas também na qualidade das imagens obtidas, onde os contornos delimitando a região cardíaca ficaram bem definidos e de formato circular, de acordo com o que se esperava. Portanto, o objetivo maior deste trabalho que era melhorar a resolução espacial de imagens TIE de perfusão pulmonar, foi atingido com excelentes resultados e vantagens adicionais, como por exemplo, a possibilidade de sua implementação em equipamentos TIE de monitoramento do tórax e desta forma colaborar no aperfeiçoamento de sistemas de apoio à decisão médica em ambientes críticos, como é o caso das Unidades de Terapia Intensiva (UTIs). / Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is an imaging technique, still in development, which allows imaging of the distribution of conductivity in a cross section of an object under analysis from electrical measures made on its surface. Despite its benefits and advantages over other imaging techniques, its images still do not offer a good spatial resolution. One of the biggest challenges in EIT thorax images is the treatment of the lung perfusion because the perspectives for clinical use are numerous. Thus, there is a great interest in improving the localization of its main organs. In order to improve the anatomical resolution was developed a methodology for identification of cardiac region in images of electrical impedance tomography of pulmonary perfusion by means of wavelet transform, using EIT images of pigs. Some preliminary studies of different approaches were performed in order to identify those characteristics that would indicate intrinsic similarities or differences among the pixels of different anatomical regions. These studies propitiated the development of five methods based on wavelet transform. A first set of experiments, performed in a single pig, was used in developing and improving of the methods. Subsequently, other experiments, involving four pigs in different physiological conditions, were performed to evaluate the performance of these methods. The wavelet perfusional images were compared with the perfusional images obtained by the method of injection of a hypertonic solution, considered as the perfusional reference standard images. Amongst the five developed methods, the best of them was selected as the wavelet methodology proposed by this work. It was capable to identify the heart region of five pigs under different physiological conditions, demonstrating to robustness and very satisfactory results, not only in quantitative terms, with an average area of the ROC curve of 0.86, but also in the quality of the images, where the contours delimiting the cardiac region were well defined and of circular format, according to what was expected. Therefore, the main objective of this work, that was to improve the spatial resolution of EIT images of pulmonary perfusion, was reached with excellent results and additional benefits such as the possibility of its implementation in EIT equipments for monitoring thorax and thus collaborate in improving of medical decision support systems in critical environments, as for example the Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

A Tomografia de Impedância Elétrica (TIE) é uma técnica de imageamento, ainda em desenvolvimento, por meio da qual são extraídas imagens correspondentes à distribuição da impedância elétrica de uma seção transversal de um objeto sob análise a partir de medidas elétricas realizadas em sua superfície. Apesar de seus benefícios e vantagens sobre outras técnicas de imageamento, suas imagens não oferecem uma boa resolução espacial. Em imagens TIE de tórax, um dos maiores desafios reside no tratamento da perfusão pulmonar, pois as perspectivas de uso clínico são inúmeras. Assim sendo, melhorar a localização de seus principais órgãos é um dos grandes objetivos. Com o intuito de melhorar a resolução anatômica foi desenvolvida uma metodologia para identificação de região cardíaca em imagens de tomografia de impedância elétrica de perfusão pulmonar por meio da transformada wavelet, utilizando imagens TIE de porcos. Inicialmente foi realizada uma série de estudos de diferentes abordagens com vistas a identificar aquelas características que pudessem indicar similaridades ou diferenças intrínsecas entre os pixels de diferentes regiões anatômicas. Com base nestes estudos, cinco métodos baseados na análise wavelet foram desenvolvidos. Um primeiro conjunto de experimentos, realizado em um único porco, foi utilizado no desenvolvimento e aperfeiçoamento dos métodos. Posteriormente, outros experimentos, envolvendo quatro porcos em diferentes condições fisiológicas, foram utilizados na avaliação de desempenho destes métodos. As imagens de perfusão wavelet foram comparadas com as imagens de perfusão obtidas pelo método de injeção de uma solução hipertônica, considerada como padrão de referência das imagens de perfusão. A metodologia wavelet proposta por este trabalho foi o método, dentre os cinco desenvolvidos, que obteve os melhores resultados. Ela foi capaz de identificar a região cardíaca de cinco porcos submetidos a diversas condições fisiológicas, demonstrando robustez e resultados muito satisfatórios, não apenas em termos quantitativos, com uma área média da curva ROC de 0,86, mas também na qualidade das imagens obtidas, onde os contornos delimitando a região cardíaca ficaram bem definidos e de formato circular, de acordo com o que se esperava. Portanto, o objetivo maior deste trabalho que era melhorar a resolução espacial de imagens TIE de perfusão pulmonar, foi atingido com excelentes resultados e vantagens adicionais, como por exemplo, a possibilidade de sua implementação em equipamentos TIE de monitoramento do tórax e desta forma colaborar no aperfeiçoamento de sistemas de apoio à decisão médica em ambientes críticos, como é o caso das Unidades de Terapia Intensiva (UTIs). / Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is an imaging technique, still in development, which allows imaging of the distribution of conductivity in a cross section of an object under analysis from electrical measures made on its surface. Despite its benefits and advantages over other imaging techniques, its images still do not offer a good spatial resolution. One of the biggest challenges in EIT thorax images is the treatment of the lung perfusion because the perspectives for clinical use are numerous. Thus, there is a great interest in improving the localization of its main organs. In order to improve the anatomical resolution was developed a methodology for identification of cardiac region in images of electrical impedance tomography of pulmonary perfusion by means of wavelet transform, using EIT images of pigs. Some preliminary studies of different approaches were performed in order to identify those characteristics that would indicate intrinsic similarities or differences among the pixels of different anatomical regions. These studies propitiated the development of five methods based on wavelet transform. A first set of experiments, performed in a single pig, was used in developing and improving of the methods. Subsequently, other experiments, involving four pigs in different physiological conditions, were performed to evaluate the performance of these methods. The wavelet perfusional images were compared with the perfusional images obtained by the method of injection of a hypertonic solution, considered as the perfusional reference standard images. Amongst the five developed methods, the best of them was selected as the wavelet methodology proposed by this work. It was capable to identify the heart region of five pigs under different physiological conditions, demonstrating to robustness and very satisfactory results, not only in quantitative terms, with an average area of the ROC curve of 0.86, but also in the quality of the images, where the contours delimiting the cardiac region were well defined and of circular format, according to what was expected. Therefore, the main objective of this work, that was to improve the spatial resolution of EIT images of pulmonary perfusion, was reached with excellent results and additional benefits such as the possibility of its implementation in EIT equipments for monitoring thorax and thus collaborate in improving of medical decision support systems in critical environments, as for example the Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

Background: Laboratory results are of central importance for clinical decision making. The time span between availability and review of results by clinicians is crucial to patient care. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are computational tools that can identify critical values automatically and help decrease treatment delay. Objective: With this work, we aimed to implement and evaluate a CDSS that supports health care professionals and improves patient safety. In addition to our experiences, we also describe its main components in a general manner to make it applicable to a wide range of medical institutions and to empower colleagues to implement a similar system in their facilities. Methods: Technical requirements must be taken into account before implementing a CDSS that performs laboratory diagnostics (labCDSS). These can be planned within the functional components of a reactive software agent, a computational framework for such a CDSS. Results: We present AMPEL (Analysis and Reporting System for the Improvement of Patient Safety through Real-Time Integration of Laboratory Findings), a labCDSS that notifies health care professionals if a life-threatening medical condition is detected. We developed and implemented AMPEL at a university hospital and regional hospitals in Germany (University of Leipzig Medical Center and the Muldental Clinics in Grimma and Wurzen). It currently runs 5 different algorithms in parallel: hypokalemia, hypercalcemia, hyponatremia, hyperlactatemia, and acute kidney injury. Conclusions: AMPEL enables continuous surveillance of patients. The system is constantly being evaluated and extended and has the capacity for many more algorithms. We hope to encourage colleagues from other institutions to design and implement similar CDSS using the theory, specifications, and experiences described in this work.

Pediatric obesity is skyrocketing nowadays worldwide. Therefore, helping and supporting clinicians in curing children is needed. As Health IT is soaring thanks to the emergence of a cutting-edge technology, treatments can now be followed closely and daily to give a personalized therapy. Thus, this thesis investigates how to build a clinical decision support tool to address this issue. The study was carried with the company Evira by following the user-centered design thinking method. The user research, carried out with semi-structured interviews at Martina Barnsjukhuset and Capio Vårdcentral Zinkensdamm, provided the users needs. A prototype was developed with considering this user research and requirements. Next, it was tested by experts during task-based and semi-structured interviews. This evaluation phase concluded that the prototype was intuitive and effective. By using different metrics, it allowed clinicians to see the activity of the patients, the irregularities and variation of their weight, their weighting habits, and the gender distribution of the patients. The final tool corrected some of the requests obtained during the evaluation. Thus, the proposed interface could support the decision of clinicians to improve treatment effectiveness and enable better resource planning. Further research can still be carried out in order to fine-tune this tool. / Fetma hos barn ökar kraftigt i dag över hela världen. Därför behövs det hjälp och stöd till kliniker för att behandla barn. Eftersom hälso- och sjukvårdsinformatik är på frammarsch tack vare framväxten av en banbrytande teknik kan behandlingar nu följas noga och dagligen för att ge en personlig behandling. I denna avhandling undersöks värdet av ett kliniskt beslutsstöd för att lösa detta problem. Studien genomfördes tillsammans med företaget Evira genom att följa metoden för användarcentrerat designtänkande. Användar- forskningen, som genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer på Martina Barnsjukhuset och Capio Vårdcentral Zinkensdamm, gav användarnas behov. En prototyp utvecklades med hänsyn till denna användarundersökning och dessa krav. Därefter testades den av experter under uppgiftsbaserade och semistrukturerade intervjuer. I denna utvärderingsfas konstaterades att prototypen var intuitiv och effektiv. Den gjorde det möjligt för kliniker att se patienternas aktivitet och effektiviteten i behandlingen. Det slutliga verktyget korrigerade några av de önskemål som framkom under utvärderingen. Det föreslagna gränssnittet ökade således behandlingseffektiviteten och möjliggjorde bättre resursplanering. Ytterligare forskning kan fortfarande utföras för att finslipa detta verktyg.

During the last decade, electronic prescribing has been a point of focus in healthcare industry and is rapidly becoming a standard of practice. It has proven as an important element in improving the quality of patient care, mitigating or eliminating the phone calls back and forth from pharmacies to point of care/health centers. Many e-prescribing systems were developed and marketed but these usually were unsuccessful because of the lack of direct electronic connectivity to local pharmacies and the lack of up-to-date formulary information, clinical guidelines, health plans & services among other reasons. Despite their benefits, the adoption and usage of electronic prescribing systems has been low. In some of the developing countries like Uganda, the problem is even worst. Due to lack of essential resources and manpower, healthcare services have significantly impacted on the productivity and quality of patient care.In an effort to improve, promote and maintain the quality of health services in rural settings of developing countries like Uganda, a high level design for e-prescribing system has been proposed. Design specifications for Electronic Prescribing Management System (EPMS) along with functional prototype are built based on ICT4MPOWER project requirements and previous research and publications in this area.Initially research began with Drug and Stock Management System and EPMS emerged as one of its essential components. In order to strengthen and establish connection between ongoing electronic health record system and drug and stock management development, EPMS component came into lime light. Mare prescription management is not enough to serve patient centric needs. Hence, clinical decision support has been introduced into e- prescribing system to improve the quality of prescribing decisions. In order to develop a patient-centric e-prescribing system that is self-evolving and self sustaining, it is important to update the clinical decision-support system, formularies & guidelines on regular basis. In order to make it usable, it is required to formulate effective health plans and increase associations between pharmacies and other health organizational units. The principal benefit of introducing E-prescribing system into Electronic Health Record (EHR) System is to connect open ended systems to form a strong knowledge base for future. / ICT4MPOWER

Cotutelle internationale avec l'université de Caen / La complexité des patients de réanimation justifie le recours à des systèmes d’aide à la décision thérapeutique. Ces systèmes rassemblent des protocoles automatisés de prise en charge permettant le respect des recommandations et des simulateurs physiologiques ou patients virtuels, utilisables pour personnaliser de façon sécuritaire les prises en charge. Ces dispositifs fonctionnant à partir d’algorithmes et d’équations mathématiques ne peuvent être développés qu’à partir d’un grand nombre de données de patients. Le principal objectif de cette thèse était la mise en place d’une base de données haute résolution automatiquement collectée de patients de réanimation pédiatrique dont le but sera de servir au développement et à la validation d’un simulateur physiologique : SimulResp©. Ce travail présente l’ensemble du processus de mise en place de la base de données, du concept jusqu’à son utilisation. / The complexity of the patients in the intensive care unit requires the use of clinical decision support systems. These systems bring together automated management protocols that enable adherence to guidelines and virtual physiological or patient simulators that can be used to safely customize management. These devices operating from algorithms and mathematical equations can only be developed from a large number of patients’ data. The main objective of the work was the elaboration of a high resolution database automatically collected from critically ill children. This database will be used to develop and validate a physiological simulator called SimulResp© . This manuscript presents the whole process of setting up the database from concept to use.

<p>Chronic low back pain is the second most prevalent chronic condition in Canadian primary care settings. The treatment and diagnosis of chronic pain is challenging for primary care clinicians. Their main challenges are lack of knowledge and their approach toward assessing and treating pain. Evidence based guidelines have been developed for neuropathic pain and low back pain.</p> <p>CDSSs for chronic diseases are becoming popular in primary care settings as a mean to implement CPGs. A CDSS prototype for diagnosis and treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain in primary care was developed at McMaster University. It is evident that poor usability can hinder the uptake of health information technologies.</p> <p>The objective of this study was to test the usability of Pain Assistant using think aloud protocols with SUS scores in 2 iterations. In this study 13 primary care providers including family physicians, nurse practitioners and residents used Pain Assistant to complete 3 different patient case scenarios. Participants were asked to comment on both barriers and facilitators of usability of Pain Assistant. Additionally time to complete patient case scenarios was calculated for each participant. A comparison questionnaire gathered user preference between introducing CPGs in paper format and computerized decision support system.</p> <p>This study showed that iterative usability testing of the Pain Assistant with participation of real-end users has the potential to uncover usability issues of the Pain Assistant. Problems of user interface were the main usability barrier in first testing iteration following by problems of content. Changes were made to system design for second round based on the issues came up in the first iteration. However, because of time constrains not all the changes were implemented for second round of testing. Most of the refinements were to resolve user interface issues. In the second iteration, the problems with the content of Pain Assistant were the major barrier. The changes to the system design were successful in resolving user interface problems since the changed issues did not come up again in second round. Pain Assistant had an above the average usability score however no significant changes seen in SUS score. The time needed to complete tasks remained identical in both iterations. In addition, participants preferred to have CPGs in electronic formats than paper. Further study after implementing all the system changes needed to determine the effectiveness of system refinements.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

The purpose of the study was to describe the effects of an EMR on patient management in selected HIV clinics in Johannesburg. A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was undertaken in four HIV clinics in Johannesburg. The subjects (N=44) were the healthcare workers selected by stratified random sampling. Consent was requested from each subject and from the clinics in Johannesburg. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Median age of subjects was 36, 82% were female. 86% had tertiary qualifications. 55% were clinicians. 52% had 2-3 years work experience. 80% had computer experience, 86% had over one year EMR experience. 90% used the EMR daily, 93% preferred EMR to paper. 93% had EMR training, 17% used EMR to capture clinical data. 87% perceived EMR to have more benefits; most felt doctor-patient relationship was not interfered with. 89% were satisfied with the EMR’s overall performance. The effects of EMR benefit HIV patient management. / Health Studies / MA (Public Health)

The purpose of the study was to describe the effects of an EMR on patient management in selected HIV clinics in Johannesburg. A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was undertaken in four HIV clinics in Johannesburg. The subjects (N=44) were the healthcare workers selected by stratified random sampling. Consent was requested from each subject and from the clinics in Johannesburg. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Median age of subjects was 36, 82% were female. 86% had tertiary qualifications. 55% were clinicians. 52% had 2-3 years work experience. 80% had computer experience, 86% had over one year EMR experience. 90% used the EMR daily, 93% preferred EMR to paper. 93% had EMR training, 17% used EMR to capture clinical data. 87% perceived EMR to have more benefits; most felt doctor-patient relationship was not interfered with. 89% were satisfied with the EMR’s overall performance. The effects of EMR benefit HIV patient management. / Health Studies / MA (Public Health)

La prescription électronique, définie comme la saisie et la transmission électronique de diverses données de prescriptions (médicaments, requêtes de laboratoires, imagerie), est une technologie qui promet d’augmenter la productivité de l’exécution d’une prescription, de diminuer les erreurs reliées à l’illisibilité des prescriptions manuscrites et d’améliorer l’usage approprié des médicaments. Toutefois, la réalisation des bénéfices associés à cette technologie dépend grandement du contexte local de l’implantation et la configuration du système, qui doivent être adaptés aux besoins de l’établissement de santé et aux pratiques locales des professionnels. Bien que la prescription électronique soit implantée depuis plus d’une décennie dans plusieurs établissements de santé à travers le monde, il s’agit d’une technologie émergente au Québec et au Canada. Le Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine est l’un des premiers établissements de santé au Québec qui a implanté un système informatisé d’entrée d’ordonnances (SIEO) en 2019. L’outil, développé par un fournisseur local, a été adapté spécifiquement aux besoins de cet hôpital pédiatrique. Ainsi, l’objectif principal de ce mémoire est d’évaluer les effets de ce SIEO sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments. Plus spécifiquement, ce mémoire vise à 1) mesurer et décrire les problèmes liés à l’usage des médicaments avant et après l’implantation du SIEO, 2) identifier les caractéristiques du SIEO qui influencent la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments et 3) formuler des recommandations pour optimiser les bénéfices de l’outil de prescription électronique pour les patients et les utilisateurs. Afin de répondre à ces objectifs, ce travail présente deux études distinctes : 1. Une première analyse heuristique de l’utilisabilité portant spécifiquement sur la vulnérabilité du système a été effectuée en préimplantation du SIEO. Des scénarios visant à identifier les vulnérabilités du système ont été élaborés, puis un score permettant de noter la capacité du système à pallier ces vulnérabilités a été attribué par trois experts indépendants, afin de formuler des recommandations sur le design des fonctionnalités clés de cet outil. 2. Une étude observationnelle pré-post a été menée dans la période précédant l'implantation du système, et suivant l'implantation du système, dans l'unité pilote de pédiatrie générale. L’étude observationnelle est composée de deux volets, soit : a) une analyse des erreurs liées aux prescriptions de médicaments pour un échantillon d’ordonnances rédigées pendant une semaine par une analyse des interventions des pharmaciens et un audit de conformité des prescriptions et b) une analyse pré-post des erreurs liées au circuit du médicament, à partir des rapports d’incidents et accidents déclarés en lien avec le médicament. Les types d'erreurs ont été analysés afin de bien comprendre leur nature, ainsi que le rôle potentiel de la technologie sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments. Ces analyses ont été contextualisées par une description des fonctionnalités du SIEO (par l’utilisation d’outils validés pour l’évaluation des SIEO), des flux cliniques (par l’observation directe), et du projet d’implantation (par l’analyse de documents et des discussions avec les parties prenantes) afin de formuler des recommandations visant à optimiser les bénéfices du SIEO. Le premier article rapporte l'analyse de l'utilisabilité (étude 1) et des problèmes liés à la prescription de médicaments (étude 2a). Les résultats suggèrent que le système d’aide à la décision intégré au SIEO ne disposait pas de fonctionnalités recommandées pour limiter les vulnérabilités liées à l’usage de ce type d’outil. Néanmoins, les erreurs de conformité, qui représentaient la majorité des problèmes de prescription avant l’implantation ont été complètement éliminées par le nouveau SIEO. Toutefois, il n’y a pas eu de différence sur les erreurs de dosage et les autres interventions des pharmaciens. Ainsi, les résultats obtenus confirment qu’il est nécessaire de configurer un système d’aide à la décision avancé et adapté aux soins hospitaliers pédiatriques afin de réduire davantage les erreurs cliniques liées aux ordonnances de médicaments. Le deuxième article présente l’analyse des rapports d’incidents et accidents (étude 2b), et vise à estimer les effets du SIEO sur la sécurité de l'usage des médicaments, ainsi que mieux comprendre les erreurs de médicaments dans l’ensemble du processus des soins. L’article met en évidence le rôle important de la prescription électronique dans la simplification des étapes de la relève, de la transmission et de la transcription de la prescription. De plus, l'amélioration de l’utilisabilité de la feuille d’administration des médicaments électronique (FADMe) pourrait contribuer à réduire davantage le nombre d'erreurs liées au médicament. Ces deux articles permettent d’explorer les liens entre les caractéristiques du SIEO et les effets sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments, durant l’étape de prescription spécifiquement ainsi qu’à travers l’entièreté du circuit du médicament. Des recommandations sur l’utilisabilité du système et des stratégies de prévention sont présentées afin de réduire les erreurs liées au médicament. / Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), defined as a system used for entering and transmitting orders (e.g., for drugs, imaging, or lab requests) electronically, is a technology that can increase the productivity of order dispensing, reduce errors related to the illegibility of handwritten prescriptions and increase the appropriate use of medication. However, achieving the benefits associated with this technology depends on the local context of the implementation and configuration of the system, which must be adapted to the needs of the healthcare institution and the local practices of the healthcare professionals. Although CPOEs have been implemented for more than a decade in many healthcare institutions worldwide, it is an emerging technology in Quebec and Canada. The Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine is one of the first healthcare institutions in Quebec to implement a CPOE system in 2019. The CPOE, which was developed by a local vendor, was tailored specifically to meet the needs of the CHU Sainte-Justine's pediatric inpatient population. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effects of the CPOE on medication safety. More specifically, this study seeks to 1) measure and describe problems related to medication use before and after the implementation of the CPOE, 2) identify the characteristics of the CPOE that influence medication safety, and 3) provide recommendations to optimize the benefits of the CPOE for patients and users. To address these objectives, two studies were conducted: 1. An expert-based heuristic vulnerability analysis of the system was performed to analyze the usability of the CPOE in the pre-implementation phase. Scenarios to identify system vulnerabilities were developed, and a score to rate the CPOE's ability to address these vulnerabilities was assigned by three independent experts to make recommendations on the design of the CPOE's key features. 2. A pre-post observational study was conducted prior to and following the CPOE implementation in the general pediatrics unit. The observational study included two components: a) An analysis of medication orders problems for a sample of prescriptions ordered for one week through the documentation of pharmacists’ interventions and a prescription conformity audit; b) An analysis of medication-related incident and accident reports throughout the year in pre and post implementation. The types of errors were described to understand their nature, as well as the potential role of technology on the safety of medication use. The analyses were contextualized with descriptions of the CPOE features (through the use of validated tools for CPOE evaluation), clinical workflows (through direct observation) and implementation project (through secondary document analysis and discussions with stakeholders) in order to make recommendations to improve medication safety. The first article covers the vulnerability analysis (study 1) and the medication orders problems at the prescribing step (study 2a). The results show that the clinical decision support system (CDSS) integrated into the CPOE lacked the recommended features to identify pediatric order errors. Conformity errors, which accounted for most prescribing errors, were completely eliminated by the prescriber implementation. However, there was no difference in dosing errors and other pharmacist interventions. Thus, the results obtained from these two components suggest the need to configure an advanced CDSS tailored to pediatric hospital care to further reduce clinical errors. The second article, focused on the analysis of incident and accident reports (study 2b), aims to estimate the impacts of the electronic prescriber on medication safety, as well as to better understand medication errors in the overall care process. The article highlights the importance of simplifying the acknowledgment, transmission, and transcription steps by implementing a CPOE. Improving the usability of the electronic medication administration record (eMAR) could further reduce medication errors. These two articles explore the relationship between the characteristics of the CPOE and their impact on medication safety, specifically at the prescribing step and throughout the entire medication management process. Recommendations on system usability and other prevention strategies are presented to improve medication safety.