title: Improving patient safety--how can information technology help?
abstract: Reports by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have brought patient safety concerns to the forefront in many health care facilities. The IOM and other organizations have said that increased use of technology has the potential to increase patient safety. This article looks at the reasons behind the increase in health care errors involving patients and considers how technology could help resolve some of these problems.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Information Systems, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: Drew
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cobb
mesh_terms: D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods*