CPOE Creates a Solution to Some Big Problems

A report by the Institute of Medicine showed that poorly handwritten notes and orders were commonly misinterpreted which led to injuries to patients. This is a serious problem. In an effort to make orders more efficient, a well orchestrated ordering system like CPOE has numerous benefits. Since physician’s dictations are universal, individual notes are communicated across many departments and caregivers to ensure rapid response time and the avoidance of any conflicts with other medicines or appointments.

Patient Care is the Most Important Concept with CPOE

Obviously the patient is the most important aspect of Computerized Physician Order Entry. Therefore, there is an integration of an ordering process that revolves around the patient and their safe treatment. This application incorporates the patient’s medical history, current medical information and any clinical guidelines that best suit treatment of the patient. There is the potential to utilize the Clinical Decision Support System to combine medical logic module and or Arden syntax.

CPOE Doesn’t Completely Dissolve All Past Systems

The Computerized Physician Order Entry has not completely discarded all components of traditional transcription. Security is still of the utmost importance and featured tools create a permanent record using an electronic signature as well as an intuitive human interface. As with any new technology, there will be users who will learn faster than others. Creating an understandable, paper-based system to compliment with the CPOE, any access to the new system will be fluid.

Management Increases Productivity With CPOE

Any solution wouldn’t be successful if it wasn’t efficient and handy at the same time. The Computerized Physician Order Entry is capable of managing directives from multiple departments, entirely mobile, if need be. Several access points are available throughout the network for many electronic devices, including smart phones and other wireless technology.

How CPOE Reduces Errors

The potential to reduce medical errors during a patient’s stay in the hospital is about 80 percent, according to studies on Computerized Physician Order Entry. About 55 percent of patients can avoid serious injury or even death if a medical facility is using Computerized Physician Order Entry. Other reports show that an effective CPOE can drastically improve the discontinuation of antibacterials by nearly 17 percent.

Benefits of CPOE

Computerized Physician Order Entry has the added benefit of working automatically even when staff may not be paying attention. With CPOE, dosing alerts are issued if a particular dose is too high and could be potentially dangerous. It also works by cross referencing different medicines that may cause complications if taken together.

Setbacks with CPOE

Even though Computerized Physician Order Entry has proven it has the potential to reduce medicine errors, CPOE has made little head way to becoming commonplace within the medical community. Most medical practioners and medical facilities are creatures of habit and are slowly learning more about Computerized Physician Order Entry and its benefits.

What are the Risks Associated with CPOE

The introduction of new errors is probably the Number 1 issue with Computerized Physician Order Entry and its technology. Productivity might see a decline during the implementation stages of CPOE as users struggle to learn the new system.

As if the learning curve wasn’t enough of a distraction, the automation and communication element of this medical solution could be an issue as well. Computerized Physician Order Entry could cause a breakdown as staff become increasingly comfortable with the isolation of working alone and a false sense of security with such an intelligent system.