Information technology for patient safety.
BACKGROUND
Research on patient care has identified substantial variations in the quality and safety of healthcare and the considerable risks of iatrogenic harm as significant issues. These failings contribute to the high rates of potentially avoidable morbidity and mortality and to the rising levels of healthcare expenditure seen in many health systems. There have been substantial developments in information technology in recent decades and there is now real potential to apply these technological developments to improve the provision of healthcare universally. Of particular international interest is the use of eHealth applications. There is, however, a large gap between the theoretical and empirically demonstrated benefits of eHealth applications. While these applications typically have the technical capability to help professionals in the delivery of healthcare, inadequate attention to the socio-technical dimensions of their use can result in new avoidable risks to patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the current lack of evidence on quality and safety improvements and on the cost-benefits associated with the introduction of eHealth applications, there should be a focus on implementing more mature technologies; it is also important that eHealth applications should be evaluated against a comprehensive and rigorous set of measures, ideally at all stages of their application life cycle.
Huckvale
Christopher
C
Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
Car
Josip
J
Akiyama
Masanori
M
Jaafar
Safurah
S
Khoja
Tawfik
T
Bin Khalid
Ammar
A
Sheikh
Aziz
A
Majeed
Azeem
A
D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003906:Developing Countries; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000592:standards*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D061214:Patient Safety; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards