Is health information technology associated with patient safety in the United States?
(1) Estimates using national data provide tentative evidence of a positive relationship between health information technology (HIT) and clinical quality. Electronic medical records (EMRs) are associated with a statistically significant aversion of two post-operative infections per year at the average U.S. acute care hospital. (2) The study found no significant relationships for two other types of HIT - nurse charting and picture archiving communication systems (PACS) - or for two other measures of patient safety - post-operative hemorrhages/hematomas and post-operative pulmonary embolism/deep vein thrombosis (DVT) - which could reflect either the true value of the HIT or limitations of the study.
Gluck
Michael E
ME
AcademyHealth, USA.
D003428:Cross Infection; D019992:Databases as Topic; D006406:Hematoma; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D006278:Medicare; D009732:Nursing Care; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D019106:Postoperative Hemorrhage; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011873:Radiology Information Systems; D012449:Safety; D014481:United States; D020246:Venous Thrombosis