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Four helpful principles to aid CPOE acceptance

Pharmacy Regulation Resource, January 5, 2005

A report released December 6, 2004, by First Consulting Group for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and the New England Healthcare Institute outlined principles necessary for physician acceptance of computerized physician order entry (CPOE). The following are four of those principles:

1. Order screens should be designed so that they align with how physicians think about and write orders. Complex medication orders such as sliding scales and IVs with customized admixtures are types of orders where screen design has an impact.

2. Orders of interest for a specific patient should be easy for a physician to call up. Options should be available for a physician to locate individual and groups of orders for a patient, including personal and departmental favorites, diagnosis- or situation-specific care sets, and order sets with options and instructions. The effort physicians must put forth locating orders in the CPOE system adds to the time required for writing orders.

3. The system should be able to accommodate all order types, including laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy. They should all be generated using the same orders module and screens. Using different modules and screens to complete orders for one patient takes more time for a physician.

4. Prompts and alerts during the ordering process should be delivered at the most useful time for the physician. The worst case for physicians is receiving a variety of alert messages when attempting to sign an order. The alerts should be delivered when the physician is considering what to order, which will help in selecting the appropriate medication, dose, and other essential order elements.

Source: Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Reprinted with permission. For more information, go to www.mtpc.org/institute/health/summary.htm.

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