Information Systems and your Doctor

1. The major problems faced by hospitals and physicians include drug errors and inappropriate prescriptions. 1.5 million Americans are injured each year due to drug errors in hospitals, nursing homes, and doctor’s offices. Over 7000 Americans are killed each year due to inappropriate prescriptions. These preventable drug errors add over $5800 to a patient’s hospital bill. These errors are typically a result of human factors, such as poor handwriting, memory lapse, fatigue, or distractions. Management and organizational problems include not having a secondary person to check up on the drug order. Technological factors include not having the appropriate information technology system to aid in making these important decisions.

2. A CPOE system is appropriate because it helps doctors and nurses make better prescription decisions using information technology. Errors can be reduced, physicians can be kept updated on drug treatment guidelines, and the ordering of superfluous tests or drugs can be avoided. The DDS system is also appropriate because it tries to reduce misdiagnoses of patients by providing a comprehensive list of possible conditions to the physician regarding the patient. This system also directs physicians to important information that can be found in medical journal articles regarding the latest research. Issues involved with the systems include the fact that physicians must be willing to incorporate the use of the system into their workflow; plenty of doctors are resistant to change in the workplace. The system itself can also cause a new set of problems, such as scattering patient data and drug-ordering forms over different computer windows, which increases the chances that physicians would order the wrong medication. The system may also be rigid by not allowing attempts to enter orders for patients not admitted yet. The systems can be improved and can allow for greater efficiency and communication if implemented correctly.

3) Obstacles that prevent computer systems from improving the medical industry include the lack of participation on behalf of medical staff to train on a new system that may not even do the job correctly, the introduction of new types of errors such as scattering patient information which results in mix-ups, the lack of sensitivity to the specific patient such as his height, weight, and age, and rigidity, in that orders may not be able to be written up unless the patient is admitted. These problems can be circumvented, however, by using improved systems that minimize errors and increase the communication among medical staff. These systems can potentially save the users a great deal of money. It is also important to remember that the systems are not there to replace the physicians; rather, they are there to aid in the efficiency of the physician’s work. In the end, the physician has the final say.