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Study: Computerized drug ordering equals fewer medication errors

EHR Connection, July 9, 2007

A study published in the journal Health Services Research shows a 66% drop in medication errors among U.S. hospitals that switched to computerized prescribing. Researchers reviewed the results of 12 studies, and found that hospitals with the highest medication error rate¬higher than 12%¬ showed the most improvement when they made the switch from handwritten to computerized prescriptions. According to published background information, illegible handwriting and transcribing errors are responsible for up to 61% of medication errors, and each year these errors injure or kill more than 500,000 U.S. hospital patients, reports HealthDay News. The study's authors conclude that computerized ordering will be more effective when it's linked to other "computerized systems to detect and prevent prescribing errors." 

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