Does Computerized Physician Order Entry Reduce Medical Errors?

Introduction: Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is a system that allows physicians to electronically order patient services. The services that can be ordered, but are not limited to include: prescriptions, labs, x-rays, and referrals. Adopting CPOE will eliminate the use of paper orders with illegible hand writing. The purpose of this research project was to examine the cause of medical errors and to determine if adopting a CPOE system would be an effective solution to this problem. Results: The results of this study show that CPOE can reduce medical errors and adverse drug events significantly. CPOE coupled with other systems has shown a positive outcome preventing medical errors. Some major barriers of adoption and implementation of a CPOE system is the cost associated with it and older physicians being stuck in old ways of practicing medicine. Discussion/Conclusion: Adoption and implementation of CPOE has been growing in recent years with the HITECH Act of 2009. While preventable medical errors and ADE’s continue to increase; this study will show that adopting a CPOE system can reduce medical errors and ADE’s. ______________________________________________________________________________________ _______