title: Information technology for patient safety.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huckvale
authors.forename: Josip
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Car
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Safurah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaafar
authors.forename: Tawfik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Khoja
authors.forename: Ammar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bin Khalid
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.forename: Azeem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Majeed
mesh_terms: 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